Taniguchi and Kunikida are dead
by Hcobb
Summary: Sasaki has mysteriously followed Kyon to North High, along with the rest of the anti-SOS brigade. The timelines are all mixed up and the only clue is that Taniguchi and Kunikida seem to be working for somebody or somebodies unknown.
1. Chapter 1

[The Haruhi Suzumiya characters and situations are the creation of Nagaru Tanigawa. Other than that, he's blameless for the following.]

Taniguchi and Kunikida are dead. Or at least they would be shortly. I had them gagged, hog tied, and suspended over the edge of the North High School roof by one rope each. A little cutting with my combat knife, and my long nightmare would be over, as they would plummet to their dooms through the cool night air.

As I contemplated my future life of freedom on the open road, my mind slipped back to the day it had all began, my first day of high school.

"I'm surprised you came to North High, Sasaki."

The girl sitting in front of me turned around in her seat to respond. "It's very strange. I'm sure I sent my letter to that other school, but I suppose I must have written down North High on the envelope by accident. I must have been thinking about how relieved you had sounded over the phone to have finally been accepted anywhere."

"Perhaps you wanted to be with Kyon?" Kunikida had walked over from his seat. He was my other acquittance from middle school, who had also wound up in the same freshman high school class as myself and Sasaki.

I waved this off. "Naw, Sasaki's far too sensible to go chasing after a loser like me."

"It is pleasant to have at least two familiar faces at a new school, but I hope we'll all make many more new friends here." Sasaki stopped and suddenly turned towards the classroom door.

I felt it too, some sort of foreboding, like a sudden drop of barometric pressure and a slight chill in the air, a warning of unexpected thunderstorms. I also turned towards the door.

The girl who stood there should have been beautiful, but her features were darkened with a scowl. Was it directed at me? No, a little bit forwards of me.

"Do you know her?" I asked Sasaki.

"Not that I recall." Sasaki frowned for a moment then stopped and turned forwards as the strange girl took the one empty seat in the classroom, the seat directly behind mine. I could feel her glaring at my back, but didn't dare turn around to catch her eye.

The teacher entered and had us all introduce ourselves.

Sasaki's introduction was sensible, perhaps a bit too much so. She pointed out that we were all in the same situation, and that getting along was the best route for each of us, and for the class as a whole.

I myself said that I looked forwards to working with the other students.

The strange girl behind me said that her name was Haruhi Suzumiya and announced that she had no interest in normal human beings, but that if there were any aliens, time travelers or espers in the classroom, that they should contact her.

Sasaki's head twitched, as if she had started to turn around, and then thought better of it.

"Same old Suzumiya." The boy whose name was Taniguchi said.

The flustered teacher ignored that comment and simply asked for the student at the head of the next row to introduce herself.

The rest of home period consisted mostly of organizational matters. Only Ryouko Asakura volunteered to be class representative and she seemed pleasant (and good looking) enough that nobody objected.

Suzumiya fled the classroom as soon as the lunch bell sounded. Sasaki turned around and put her bento on my desk and Kunikida joined us. We three talked about the things we had done over spring vacation and then just as we were putting our bentos away, that Taniguchi fellow walked over.

"Don't mind Suzumiya. She's just crazy, that's all. Speak of the devil."

Sasaki frowned for only a brief instant before turning back in her seat.

Nobody had to tell me, who it was who was standing in the doorway. I could feel the tension again, like the build up of static charge, just before you're hit by lightning.

And so began the pattern for my high school life. I didn't have to look or hear anything, to tell the moments when Sasaki and Suzumiya were both in the classroom. I could feel it in the air. Any thought of being able to sleep through classes was dashed. I was too afraid of being caught in the crossfire.

In spite of her hopes, Sasaki never really did expand her limited circle of friends. She was the only student that Asakura snubbed, even to the point of always skipping Sasaki and handing me two of whatever. Sasaki didn't seem to mind this and I couldn't take it up alone, not when the popular girls seemed to be in Asakura's corner.

The student Asakura did take a special interest in was Suzumiya, to very limited effect. Suzumiya ignored us common human students to the point where she'd start changing into her gym clothes, even while the boys were still there. It was left to Asakura to toss us out into the hallway.

I was sitting by the track in the schoolyard and watching the girls run when Taniguchi sat down next to me. I ignored him for the moment and saw that Sasaki turned in a completely average time, with no special effort on her part. Suzumiya zoomed past her to set a new school record and Asakura had a solid second place finish.

"How serious are you with Sasaki?" Taniguchi asked.

"She's a good friend, that's all." I replied, without turning to him.

"Well, I'm calling dibs on Asakura. She's in the top three of the freshmen class. Real A+ material, and I think I have a chance with her. You can try Suzumiya, if you like. I've never seen her outright refuse a guy, but she's dumped everybody. One relationship only lasted five minutes, or so I've been told. So consider the challenge."

Kunikida joined us. "No, Sasaki is the best match for Kyon. She's a lonely genius, and he's the only one who can tolerate her all the time. Look at it like a public service, Kyon. Just think how far she could go in life with your support."

Taniguchi turned to him. "Are you sure that Sasaki is really a girl? She's always using masculine pronunciation."

I frowned at this. "She's physically one hundred percent female. I've seen her in a swimming suit."

"So it's her head that's messed up."

"Do you want a fight, Taniguchi?" I finally turned to him.

"Naw. I'm just saying that if you don't see her as somebody you'd want to date, then why not look elsewhere?"

The sports teams all begged Suzumiya to join, but she turned them all down. She did seem to briefly join all the other clubs on campus and then drop out of them all.

In the meantime Sasaki and I avoided all clubs and spent our extra time studying together. We'd walk down to the station and then I'd give her a ride on my bicycle to my house. My sister called her Sasaki-sister and my Mom seemed impressed enough with my efforts that I could avoid cram school for the moment.

When we returned to class on the Monday after the Golden Week vacation, I was chatting with Sasaki before first period when that familiar tension again filled the air. Sasaki turned forwards and faced her desk.

I had about enough of this and so I waited for Miss 'Cold Palace' to settle into her chair behind me, and then I turned to face her. "I've figured out your pattern, Suzumiya."

"Oh?" Suzumiya's expression was hard to read. Was that contempt or interest?

I pressed forward. "You change your hair ties to match the day of the week. Zero for Monday up to four for Friday, right?"

"Is that all you have to say to me, Kyon is it?"

"My family name is actually -"

She cut me off with a wave of her hand. "Then you missed the most important point, because I also change the color of the ties to match the Chinese names of the days."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So what is your beef with Sasaki?"

"She's a weirdo." Suzumiya frowned in Sasaki's direction, then turned to look out the window.

I was about to respond rather forcefully to that, when the teacher walked in, so I had to just turn around. As I did, I noticed that both Sasaki and Kunikida were also turning forwards, as if they had been following our brief exchange.

After classes I was just leaving, when Suzumiya grabbed my arm.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Where do you and Sasaki go everyday after school?"

"Well, where do you run off to between classes all the time?"

"I search the school for mysteries."

"So, have you found any aliens, time travelers or espers?"

"Not yet, but some of the students are a bit odd."

And how would you judge that? "We go to my house."

"Oh?"

"Just to study, some of us take school seriously."

"Pity it doesn't show up in your grades." She released me and turned away.

How did she? Oh, it was Asakura's fault. By forcing me to forward Sasaki's test papers, I had been forced to shuffle through and reveal mine each time, to the prying eyes behind me.

The next day I could feel the tension as I entered the classroom. What I saw there stopped me for an instant. I put my bookbag on the hook and leaned over Suzumiya's desk to whisper at her. "Why did you cut your hair to exactly the same length as Sasaki?"

She responded in her normal tone of voice. "It's not the same. I've got a yellow ribbon with two bows in it."

I took my seat as the teacher entered, and didn't have a chance to bring it up again with Suzumiya between classes, as she made her usual dash for the door.

At lunch it was Sasaki who provided the voice of reason, as usual. "I don't see how girls like Asakura find the time to look after long hair."

"Shouldn't you want to look your most attractive?" Kunikida asked.

"To what point? Our focus now needs to be on our studies. If we need to judge our fellow students at all, it should be on academics, or common interests. There will be plenty of time for biological factors later, and anyway I would have no interest in a man who would judge me primarily by appearance."

"Isn't Kyon the person you have the most in common with?" Kunikida asked.

"Kyon, should I limit myself to whatever college you wind up in?"

"Please don't." I looked down at my bento, to break contact with Sasaki's eyes.

"And I certainly can't ask you to wait for me for four years or longer, but I do hope we will keep in touch." There was something in Sasaki's tone that told me I had no chance with her, but I knew that already, somehow.

"Shall we pinkie swear on it?" I raised my pinkie to her. If she needed the cover of an apparent boyfriend to keep unwanted attention away from her then I would provide it. I'm loyal to my friends like that.

Sasaki placed her hand over mine, to gently fold down my pinkie. "I don't believe in such things and if you can't, then I wouldn't want it to weigh on you."

The next period teacher sent Asakura to get a handout that had been left to wait for after another class's printouts had completed. Asakura said she'd appreciate some help carrying them all and skipped over Taniguchi's raised hand, to ask me to come with her.

On the way back, with her hands free and all the handouts in my arms, she turned to me and said. "I'm glad that Suzumiya has finally started to speak to at least one student in our class. I hope you don't mind that I'll rely on you from now on, to deal with the two problem students in our class."

You and Suzumiya are the only ones who have a problem with Sasaki, I thought, but couldn't find the strength to assert my objections past Asakura's lovely smile.

Back in the classroom, she had me follow her around as source of handouts, until finally there were only three left. I dropped one on my desk and put my left hand over my shoulder with one as I pushed the last one forwards with my right hand.

Sasaki took the handout, but Suzumiya didn't, so I had to turn around to put it on her desk. I saw that she was sleeping. I suppose the teachers didn't want to hassle with her, and they certainly couldn't object to her excellent grades.

After classes I was getting ready to leave, and saw that Suzumiya was still asleep so I nudged her.

"What?"

"Schools over. Time for you to try out the next club."

Suzumiya stifled a yawn. "I've tried them all. They're all boring. You didn't miss anything by not even trying."

"So why are you so sleepy?"

"I've been checking out rumors of hauntings."

"At night, all by yourself? What do your parents think?"

"They think I'm sleeping." She shrugged, as if it were no big deal.

"Why not hook up with the mystery club or the paranormal club and go with them, to have safety in numbers?"

"Neither group does anything. At most they just sit around and read stories. It's boring."

I saw that Sasaki was waiting by the door so I cut the conversation short. "If you don't like the clubs we have here, then you can just go make your own."

Suzumiya turned away to the window and I thought that was that.

The next Monday we had a reseating lottery and I got the next to last seat by the window, with Sasaki just ahead of me. My joy was short lived as Suzumiya got the seat behind me again. It was some sort of fated Satan sandwich, and I was the meat to be grilled in the electric tension.

When the lunch bell rang, I heard Suzumiya get out of her seat and I assumed that she would be doing her usual rounds, so I reached for my bento. My hand never got to my bag. Instead my arm was almost yanked out of its socket, as Suzumiya dragged me from the classroom. She towed me down the hall and I just got to my feet in time to be led up the stairs, all the way to the locked roof exit.

"That's a great idea!" For once her scowl was replaced with a smile that almost lit up the gloomy stairwell in its brilliance. It wasn't a lovely smile, like the kind that Asakura always wore, just dazzling, with more than a hint of mischievousness to it.

"What?"

"We'll form our own club!" She clinched her fist in victory.

"We?"

"Look up the rules for forming a club while I go find a room for it!" She dashed off before I could object.

I made my way carefully down the dark stairway, past all the junk that was piled up there and returned to class 1-5.

"What was that all about?" Sasaki asked as I took my seat.

"She's decided to form her own club."

"She won't succeed."

"Oh?" I pulled out my bento.

"I already looked into turning our impromptu study group into a club. We could most likely find five members from this class to join on a part-time basis, but there are no empty club rooms." Sasaki put her bento next to mine.

"Why would you do that?" I risked a glance up at Sasaki's eyes. Did she want to be alone with me?

"To pad your resume with 'Study Club President', to make up for your future marginal grades and test results."

"See, Kyon? She understands you better than anybody else in the world."

I sighed, and with my hopes dashed, made a joke of them. "Yeah, yeah, Kunikida. We heard you the first dozen times. If you shut up about it now, we'll name our first son after you. If that's okay with you, 'Dear'?"

"I was thinking of adopting a third world child instead." Sasaki smiled at the joke. But her eyes said that she simply wasn't interested in me, that way.

"So where are all these student club rules?"

"In the back of the student handbook."

"Thanks, 'Dear'." I said with perhaps too much bitterness, but Sasaki did not object. She just seemed a little sad as she turned her attention to her lunch.

Suzumiya returned at the very end of the lunch period with the same mischievous smile, which faded to be replaced with the usual electrical tension as her eyes settled on Sasaki's empty bento, sitting on my desk.

I stood and grabbed my bag at the end of classes, and then Suzumiya grabbed my arm and started dragging me out of the classroom.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Our new clubroom!"

I turned to Sasaki. "Did you hear that 'Dear'? She thinks she knows better than you. Sit tight, this won't take long."

"I'll come along to save you the trip back, Kyon." Sasaki's use of my nickname indicated that the 'Dear' jokes had run their time in the headlights and were now over. It didn't matter to me that Sasaki didn't see me as possible boyfriend material. She didn't seem to be looking for a boyfriend after all.

We three went downstairs and over to the old building and then back up to the top floor there.

"See, Kyon? Isn't it great?" Suzumiya waved her hand at one door.

Sasaki looked up at the sign, then turned to me. "Kyon, this is the Literature Club room."

Both girls were talking at me, to have their argument. I couldn't recall one moment when they had talked to each other, except perhaps Sasaki's unreplied greeting one day.

"But look, Kyon. There's nobody here!" Suzumiya opened the door to the room. There were two bookcases, a table, some chairs and a petite figure reading a book by the window.

"Hi, Nagato."

The girl named Nagato did not respond to Sasaki's greeting, but simply flipped the page of the book she was reading.

"Who is she?" I asked Sasaki.

"She's the only member of the Literature Club, so it's as good as gone anyway." Suzumiya replied. "Kyon, how many members do we need for our new club?"

"Five."

"So with you and Nagato, we only need two others."

Sasaki raised a hand to her chin. "Perhaps she has a point, if we both join the Literature Club, we'd only need two other members and if we get Kunikida to sign up, we can make you president, Kyon."

"What? I'm going to be Chief!" There it was, the first time Suzumiya had ever responded directly to Sasaki.

"You get good grades already, Suzumiya. Kyon needs the resume padding, or he'll never get into a decent college."

Feeling no longer needed, I slipped out of the sandwich and sat on a chair in front of the bookcases.

"But I'm the one who came up with the idea for a new club. You're just a tag-along." Suzumiya pointed at Sasaki.

"What new club?"

"The new club I've decided on."

"Oh, what's the name?" Sasaki asked Suzumiya.

"I haven't decided on that yet."

"That doesn't sound like much of an idea then." Sasaki's voice dripped with a level of scorn I'd never heard her use before. I doubt Suzumiya or anybody else would notice, as they didn't know Sasaki as well as I did.

Nagato closed her book, walked over to the bookshelf and exchanged it for another one.

I decided to strike up a conversation, rather than just stare at her, or return to be part of the argument between the two girls from my class. "Nagato, how many of these books have you read?"

She stopped and looked at me through her huge glasses. "Most."

"Have you tried the city library?"

"Library?" Nagato tasted the word, like a tiny nibble from an unfamiliar dish.

"Leave the book, grab your bag, and follow me."

She put the book back on the shelf, walked over to her seat and grabbed her school bag.

I walked between the two girls from my class, who were still arguing.

"Kyon, where are you going?" They asked in unison, then glared at each other.

"The Literature Club's first field trip. Only students interested in joining need follow us."

I walked directly out the door and down the stairs, pausing only after the school gate to count that all four girls were following me.

Four?

"Who are you?" I asked the pale skinned girl with black eyes and long black hair.

"That's Kuyou Suou." Suzumiya replied. "She's the other strange girl from Nagato's class. She doesn't say much."

I was starting to suspect that Suzumiya considered 'strange' to be a synonym for 'shy', so she herself could never be considered 'strange'.

Down at the train station, I looked up the map and announced that we only needed to go three stations. We all bought tickets, except perhaps for Suou, who was one moment outside the gates and the next moment inside them. I hadn't seen her jump the gate, she sort of appeared there. In fact she didn't seem to show any sort of effort to move. She just drifted along like a cloud.

At the library Nagato did her own cloud-like drifting towards the shelves full of books. Sasaki looked up at the signs and walked off with a definite sense of direction, while Suzumiya dashed off to find research materials for her new club. Suou drifted along after me and just stood there when I sat to catch up on a manga. Nobody seemed to mind her just standing there. It wasn't that she was invisible, people would move ever so slightly so as to not bump into her, but otherwise they paid her no attention at all.

After a few minutes I was officially freaked out, and went to collect the girls.

Nagato had three science fiction books, and Suzumiya had two books on topics so off the fringe they might as well be fiction, while Sasaki had picked up a book on literary criticism. Suou had touched nothing.

I helped Nagato fill out an application for a library card while Suou looked on quizzically. I considered helping Suou also, but as she hadn't picked up a book this wasn't needed and the two other girls were getting impatient.

Nagato and Suzumiya had nearby homes in different directions from the library, and so we parted company with them there and rode the train over to the station by my and Sasaki's house. Suou continued to drift along with us.

Finally I dropped Sasaki off at her house. I drove half a block and then turned back to see Suou hovering there at the same distance as always. Apparently she had no problem keeping up with my bicycle.

"What can I do for you, Miss Suou?"

"You ... interesting." The voice sounded right in my ears, as if I was hearing her on headphones. It was a very strange effect and the first time I had heard her speak. Did she even speak? Had her lips moved at all? This was a strange girl.

"Look, I'm going home now. You need to go back to your home, understand?"

"What is home?" She turned her head towards me, or was it more that an image of her had been projected in one pose and then suddenly replaced with a slightly different image with her head at another angle, like a video running in frame skip.

I was getting more and more freaked out. I tried to put my request in the simplest terms possible. "The place where you come from, where you rest between school days. I'll see you tomorrow after classes in the clubroom. Do you understand?"

She seemed to make the slightest nodding motion and then she vanished.

Had I blinked, and she'd suddenly darted out of sight? I hadn't heard any motion, but then she seemed to always move without making a sound anyway.

I checked twice more on my way home, but saw nobody following me.

When I got home, my gradeschool sister greeted me. "Kyon! Why are you so late and where's Sasaki-sister?"

"Sorry, but we expanded our study group into an official school club, I think."

"So she's not coming back here?"

"Perhaps on weekends?"

"No fair!"

-HJC


	2. Chapter 2

The next day was a Tuesday and my little sister was overjoyed when 'Sasaki-sister' returned to our house that morning. We dropped little sister off with her elementary school friends, then rode in silence down to the station. It was only when I was locking my bicycle up that I found the words to talk about what I had done. "I'm sorry about yesterday afternoon."

"For what, Kyon?" Sasaki stood holding her bookbag in front of herself with both hands.

"For dragging everybody around like that. I didn't ask you, Sasaki. I just put you into a difficult position." I stood and grabbed my bookback from my bike's basket.

Sasaki walked alongside me to school. "The position was already difficult, because of that girl. What you demonstrated was leadership. That was your first step towards putting 'President of the high school Literature Club', on your college application. You still do want to pursue a carer in the humanities, rather than the sciences, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, math just isn't my thing." I put my hand behind my head as I tried to think of the right words to thank her for helping me at least get passing grades in that area.

"So this is a good first step, no?"

'That girl' had her own agenda, of course.

"Kyon!" She looked over as I entered our classroom.

I had only seen it a few times, but I was already starting to dread Haruhi Suzumiya's mischievous smile. It was not a relief when this soured into a frown as Sasaki stepped into the classroom behind me. It was like having the two of them together completed some sort of electrical circuit, plunging the classroom into a deep freeze. My skin prickled with a feeling like a cold winter's night, when static charges could easily build, to result in a painful shock whenever metal was touched. An odd sensation indeed, for an otherwise pleasant spring morning.

Suzumiya waited for me to take my seat in front of her before continuing. "With Suou we only need one more member in the club to make five, and I know just the person."

Sasaki took her seat in front of me, then turned around in her chair. "My count was four girls following Literature Club President Kyon yesterday. Unless you're not interested in joining?"

"I can't think of anything more boring than a Literature Club. My club will be far more exciting than that, and far too exciting for a boring person like you, Sasaki."

Now that the ice had been broken, the two girls were finally talking to each other. Woe is me. I tried to recall if this was the first time Suzumiya had addressed Sasaki by name. I had tuned out most of their clubroom spat yesterday, so I couldn't be sure.

"And do you finally have a name for this club of yours, Suzumiya?" The volleys of contemptuous comments continued to bounce over me, like I was a net in a tennis match.

"The Save the World by Overloading it with Fun, Haruhi Suzumiya brigade. Or SOS-dan for short."

"You're naming your club after yourself, Suzumiya?"

"Well, of course. I'm the one who came up with it after all."

"Kyon is a serious student. He needs the study time and record of accomplishment in order to further his career in the humanities. Your club sounds like it wouldn't accomplish anything."

"That's exactly the sort of non-fun that the SOS-dan needs to save the world from." Suzumiya crossed her arms and pouted.

I clearly wasn't needed for this, and would have fled the classroom, except that the class was starting. I could feel the attention of the classroom switch from the area around myself to the teacher, as he entered. Even Sasaki turned forwards.

At lunch, Suzumiya fled the classroom, as usual.

Sasaki put her bento on my desk, then called Kunikida. She explained the situation as we ate, then asked him, "So can you join the Literature Club on a temporary basis? And can we count on your vote for Kyon?"

"Sure, I guess." Kunikida froze.

I could feel it too, the sudden tension in the air. The other students continued their conversations. It was just Kunikida, Sasaki, and myself who were stopped, as we felt Suzumiya enter the classroom.

"Time for class." Kunikida took his empty bento and returned to his seat.

At the end of classes, Suzumiya dashed off for parts unknown so it was just the three of us who made our way to the clubroom.

When I opened the door I saw only Nagato, sitting in the corner. She seemed to be reading one of the books she had checked out of the library the previous day.

Sasaki and Kunikida entered, and then he turned to the corner nearest the door.

I followed his gaze and saw Kuyou Suou standing there, as enigmatic as always. Did she even know how to use a chair? "Kunikida, this is Kuyou Suou."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Suou." He bowed to her.

She turned ever so slightly to look at him then turned her attention back to me.

I resolved to not let her freak me out. She didn't seem to intend to be a problem. I assumed that she must be a foreign exchange student or something. Didn't her name sound Korean?

I walked over to Nagato. "Can we have four application papers for the Literature Club please? Unless Suou is already a member?"

"Suou is not." Nagato didn't look up from her book.

"So four application sheets then please."

"Suzumiya said to do nothing until she returned." Nagato kept reading.

I sat down next to Kunikida and turned to Sasaki, across the table from myself. "She seems to have thwarted your plans at the gatekeeper?"

"We can wait her out. Miss Suou, sit here please." Sasaki indicated the empty chair next to herself.

Suou floated over and settled into the seat, like a petite fog bank being directed by unseen breezes.

We three students from class 1-5 started on our homework, while Suou watched us as if we were a tribe of jungle primitives conducting strange rituals, and Nagato continued to read in the corner.

A half hour later I looked up and scanned the room. "I'm feeling a little thirsty. Can I get anybody else a drink?"

"No, I'll go." Kunikida volunteered. "You two seem to be making steady progress. So no need to interrupt that. Tea for both of you? Nagato? Suou?"

Sasaki and I nodded. Suou looked up at Kunikida briefly and then looked back at the homework on the table. Nagato made no motions or sounds, other than to flip to the next page in her book.

"I'll be right back then." Kunikida opened the door. Then he stopped and addressed the person he saw outside the clubroom. "Miss Suzumiya? I'm going for refreshments, can I get you and your friend anything?"

"We'll both have tea, thanks. But that does bring up an interesting point. We ought to have a maid for our club." Suzumiya entered and dragged another girl into the clubroom, then turned and locked the door behind Kunikida.

"Why did you lock the door?" The girl asked. She had a slight frame, but curves even more generous than Suzumiya's. She turned to face the rest of us and her cute features spread in shock. "You? You're all here? In this school, at this time? In the same room? This is..."

"It's great, isn't it!" Suzumiya put her arm over the other girl's shoulders. "This is Mikuru Asahina, she'll be our maid."

"Why?" I knew better than to ask, but I did anyway.

"Because she's got moe!" Suzumiya reached around from behind to grab at Asahina's chest through her blouse. "Just look at the size of these breasts! They're bigger than mine and they're completely natural. Just feel them for yourself."

"Miss Asahina, shall I report this to the school authorities for you?" Sasaki raised an eyebrow.

"You're no fun." Suzumiya released her captive and stood back.

"No, ah." Asahina took a moment to compose herself. "Miss Sasaki, wh - what are you doing at North High?"

"It's the strangest thing. I must have sent my application to the wrong school."

"Oh." Asahina looked off in the distance with a puzzled expression, as if she was trying to remember a complex math puzzle.

"So, you two have met before?" Suzumiya asked.

"Of course not." Asahina snapped back to the present. "I've never met Mr. Kyon, Miss Sasaki, Miss Nagato, or Miss Suou before. I have no idea who these people are."

I was startled at the use of Mr. in conjunction with my nickname. Had our infamy spread out of our classroom to the entire school already?

"Well, now that introductions are out of the way, we need only add a mysterious transfer student and the collection will be complete." Suzumiya grinned at me like I was a tasty little mouse and she was waiting outside my mouse hole so we could do lunch.

Behind Suzumiya's and Sasaki's backs, Asahina tapped herself on the head.

"Isn't Suou Korean?" I asked.

"Define Korean." Suou looked at me.

"I guess not." Suzumiya stared at Suou for a moment, then shook her head and turned back to the rest of us. "So that slot remains open."

"Why should the Literature Club care if a member is a transfer student or not?" Sasaki asked.

"It's a mysterious transfer student. By combining multiple character types we allow for different kinds of strange events. A mysterious transfer student will have dark secrets from their past that would then attack innocent moe characters like Mikuru."

Suzumiya's explanation made me suspect that she was the one with dark secrets in her past.

"Me?" Asahina looked around nervously. Her eyes settled on Suou, who smiled at her. Asahina stepped behind a chair and shivered.

"Even if we accept all of that." Sasaki's tone made it quite clear that she didn't accept any of it. "How will you be able to determine which transfer students are mysterious, Suzumiya?"

"Well any student who would transfer so early in the semester would have to be mysterious."

Sasaki sighed. Stood up and walked over to Nagato. "Can we have the application sheets please?"

Nagato pulled out a half dozen sheets, but Suzumiya plucked them out of her hand, went back to the table, wrote changes to each sheet with a pen, then placed a copy in front of everybody other than Sasaki. The applications now had Literature Club crossed out and SOS Brigade written in place of that.

"Come along, Kyon." Sasaki gathered her things into her bag. "We'll settle this with the school authorities tomorrow."

There was a knock at the door so I went and let Kunikida in, to distribute the drinks and gather his things.

I stopped to chat with Sasaki in front of her house, so it was around six p.m. when I rode up to my house. Asahina was waiting there for me.

As she ran up to me, I could see that she had been crying.

"Kyon, it's terrible, I can't contact the future or time travel. It's like the base station doesn't even exist! And even the classification system is offline."

"What?" I held her as she sobbed against my shoulder. "Why don't you come inside and sit down?"

"No! There's only one remaining emergency procedure to try. We must go to Miss Nagato and get her to check the timelines."

"Do you know where she lives?"

"Yes. It's not far. We can ride your bike there."

Having Asahina hold onto my shoulders with her ample bosom pressed to the back of my head seemed to invigorate me, and we made good time to Nagato's apartment building.

Asahina punched 708 into the intercom. "Miss Nagato. We must speak to you. There's something wrong with the timelines."

There was no response over the intercom, but the doors were buzzed open.

Asahina seemed very nervous in the elevator and when we reached apartment 708, Nagato opened the door as Asahina was reaching for the doorbell.

Nagato served us tea and listened to Asahina's explanation, which seemed to make far more sense to her than it did to me.

Asahina concluded with. "So, can you help us?"

"Checking. The timelines are indeed disrupted. Multiple time loop paradoxes are interfering. Attempting to synchronize across timelines. Packet drop. Data error. Logic Fault. Attempting emergency reset." Nagato glowed then dissolved into a checkerboard pattern of large pixels before reforming back to herself. Her eyes widened as she looked at us.

"So, did you find the error?" I asked. I wondered how she had done all of that. Did she have special lighting installed or was there something in the tea?

"What are you two doing in my apartment?" There was a hint of fear to Nagato's voice as she abandoned her usual monotone.

So this was some sort of performance art? I frowned. "You invited us in. We met at the Literature Club, remember?"

"You want to join the Literature Club?" For the first time something almost like a smile came to her face. It was delicate and beautiful, like a rare flower.

"I guess that's the plan?" I turned to Asahina.

"Did you find the problem with the timelines?" Asahina asked.

"Timelines? Which science fiction novel are you talking about, Miss?"

"You don't remember Miss Asahina?"

"I may have seen her at school, but I remember you. You're the boy who helped me get the library card."

"Yes, yesterday."

Nagato shook her head. "No, several months ago, back in May."

"It's May now."

"No, it's December." Nagato looked at me in puzzlement.

I pulled out my phone and showed it to her. "See, it's May."

"Your phone is malfunctioning. Have you checked the battery?" Nagato sat back and looked at me.

I stood up from Nagato's kotatsu, walked over to the glass patio door that led to her balcony and opened it. "Feel that? It's May."

"How can this be?" Nagato walked up next to me. "It's been much colder these past few days."

I looked down at her face. Whatever her act was, it was very good. "I don't have time to deal with all of this right now. My mom is going to call me any second now, and ask where I am. Can I give you a ride home, Asahina?"

"Nobody is waiting for me." Asahina looked down in her tea, as if she was about to cry into it. Then she looked up at me. "Well, not in the here and now, anyway. I'll stay with Nagato and see if I can learn anything else."

"Do you trust her, Mr.?" Nagato glanced at Asahina then turned to me and acted like she would hang on every word I said.

"Just call me Kyon. Everybody else does. And yes, I guess I do."

When I did get home, I found that my dinner had been placed to the fridge and after a little zapping in the microwave, I sat it down at the table.

My sister walked into the dinning room. "I told Mom you had to go back for your homework."

"Thanks."

"So, what's she like?"

"Who?"

"Your new girlfriend. The girl you were hugging in front of the house."

"I really don't know."

"You're turning into a real player, Kyon. That's not the big brother I know." My little sister glared her distain for me, then marched back to her own room and shut the door behind her.

Finally she had called me big brother, but in the worst possible way.

On Wednesday morning I found a note in my shoe locker. I think I managed to pocket it without Sasaki noticing.

I ducked into the boys' room on the way to the classroom and examined the note in a stall. It said that I should return to classroom 1-5 after the students had left for the day. There was no signature.

I arrived in the classroom just before the teacher. I pondered who the note could be from. It couldn't be Sasaki, who would be riding home with me anyway or Suzumiya, who would have chosen a more direct route. That left Nagato or Asahina, but even they seemed unlikely. Suou? Even more improbable.

After classes we went to the clubroom again. This time Nagato seemed eager to take the application forms that Sasaki had brought. Even Suzumiya reluctantly joined the Literature Club. Suzumiya nominated herself for President, and Sasaki was about to reply when I suggested Nagato, as she had the most seniority. My motion carried with only one dissent.

As Sasaki and Suzumiya settled into another arguement, Nagato gestured me over and whispered in my ear. "Is there somebody sitting next to Miss Sasaki?"

"That's Kuyou Suou."

"I can only see a shadow out of the corner of my eye, but my glasses seem fine otherwise?"

"Suou is a special case, don't worry about it."

Suzumiya and Sasaki then rose from their seats and started to argue with a flustered Nagato as to what the club should be doing. I took the opportunity to slip out of the club room.

I returned to classroom 1-5 and was startled at who it was who was waiting for me.

"Please come in, Kyon." Asakura's smile was, as always, the very definition of lovely.

"This is your note, Miss Asakura?"

"Why, yes it is."

"What did you want to see me about?"

"Well, first we need a bit of privacy." Asakura swept out her arms and the walls floors and ceiling dissolved into shifting geometrical shapes. Even the furniture vanished.

"What?" I turned to the door I had just walked through, but it wasn't there. The ever shifting patterns seemed to define an improbably solid wall. I turned back to Asakura. "What is this?"

"Hush!" She pointed a finger at me and I froze into place, unable to move a muscle.

"Here we are in a temporal crisis, and you take out the interface with the best time manipulation abilities." She stepped slowly towards me, smiling all the time.

"We now have her entire faction firewalled off. I can't take the chance that you'll infect me. I'll take you out now, and we'll see which faction responds." She held up her hand and a military style combat knife materialized in her grasp. She raised this over her head and swung it down towards my chest.

Suddenly I was pushed over and found myself looking up the skirt of North High student. I recognized the long black hair. It was Kuyou Suou, and she was wearing plain white cotton panties. She had grabbed Asakura's knife arm.

Asakura twisted free and Suou drifted back just quickly enough to avoid her next strike.

Asakura sized up the other girl. "So this human is a pawn of the Macrospatial Quantum Cosmic Existence?"

"Your terms, unfamiliar. This human, I take away."

"You can't have him!" Asakura jumped on top of me, and brought her knife down on my chest. Her curled hand impacted on my chest with a painful thump.

"Ow!" I looked down. No blood.

"What?" Asakura pulled her hand back and saw that her knife had vanished.

"Oh my."

We both turned towards the voice from the open doorway. There was a door again. The geometrical patterns had vanished, to be replaced with our usual classroom. The only thing out of place in the classroom, was me, lying on the floor, with our class representative straddling me. Suou had vanished.

I was the first to speak. "Sasaki, this isn't what it looks like."

"Then what is it?" The girl who had opened the door, that hadn't been there a moment before, asked.

"Oh, excuse me, Kyon." Asakura stood, backed away and bowed towards me. "We'll finish this some other time."

I chased after Sasaki as she walked away. "Wait!"

Sasaki walked along without looking at me. "I know that boys have problems with their urges, but I thought that you at least were sensible enough to find someplace private."

"It wasn't anything like that. You saved my life back there."

"Saved you from spending the rest of your life with Miss Asakura? I can't imagine that many of the boys in this school would thank me for that." Sasaki turned to me and frowned.

[Haruhi Suzumiya Wears Prada. Nothing to do with this story, just dropping it in where it won't be seen. Clearly a Kyonko x Haruhi story, if anybody cares to copy and paste it in. -HJC]


	3. Chapter 3

The Thursday morning trip to school passed silently. Sasaki had still come over to my house for the bike ride, she just didn't say much to me and I still couldn't find words to describe what she had saved me from.

Asakura departed from her usual routine of handing things directly to each student. She handed one pile of tests to each student in the front row with instructions to pass them down. She warned that we were being watched and her eternal smile faded for a moment as she frowned directly at me.

Taniguchi looked back at me with a confused look then turned forwards to take the pile of tests being handed back.

I was so nervous of being in the same room as Asakura, that I didn't do very well on that test.

Sasaki and Kunikida ate lunch at my desk as usual, and as we were wrapping up Taniguchi walked over.

"Kyon, what did you say to Asakura to piss her off?"

I looked around and saw that she wasn't in the classroom. Even with her incredible powers, did she still need to use the bathroom?

Thanks to my delay the answer came from the seat in front of mine. "I think she's angry with me, sorry."

"What? Why Sasaki?" Taniguchi turned to her.

"Sorry, I've said too much." Sasaki picked up her empty bento and turned her chair around to face her desk.

"But isn't Asakura on Suzumiya's side?" Kunikida asked.

"What?" I asked him.

Taniguchi and Kunikida froze for a moment, then turned and returned silently to their desks. I could feel the same trigger, it was that sense of impending doom that occurred whenever Suzumiya entered a room with Sasaki in it. Strange how the other students never seemed to notice it.

After classes I made sure to stick closely behind Sasaki on the walk to the clubroom. Suzumiya walked alongside Sasaki, but neither spoke to each other. Kunikida said he had an activity with his real club and so couldn't attend today.

In the clubroom, Asahina and Suou were in their regular chairs, but Nagato had joined them at the table and was writing something in a notebook. She looked up as we entered. "Miss Suzumiya, you said you were interested in time travelers?"

Suou turned ever so slightly towards Nagato. Asahina's mouth widened in shock. Sasaki sighed.

Suzumiya's face brightened. "Yes?"

"I'm a time traveler."

"Really?" Suzumiya almost skipped over to Nagato. "What year are you from?"

"This year. I'm from December. I thought Mr. Kyon had been playing a trick on me, but the questions on the test today were exactly as I had remembered from back in May and nobody else in the classroom noticed."

"What proof do you have for this claim?" Sasaki took her usual seat.

"Yes! This could be our big chance to raise funds for the brigade. Do you have winning lottery numbers, stock market moves, political events, or other market moving news events?" As usual, Suzumiya thought first for herself, even given something that could turn the entire world upside down.

"I didn't pay much attention to the news, but maybe there's something on the computer? Has anybody seen my computer? It was right here on the table. The Computer Club gave it to me during summer vacation. Oh wait, it's just May, isn't it?" Nagato looked down at the pages in her notebook.

"So you don't have any physical proof for this claim." Sasaki stated it as a fact, not a question.

"My memories are real, I know it." Nagato looked directly at me for support and my heart melted a bit. I was always a sucker for maidens in distress.

Sasaki saw this and frowned. "So what will you have done this year?"

Nagato turned to Sasaki. "Mostly I attended classes and read novels, but I did make a few friends. Come along, and I'll prove it." Nagato rose and led us all down the hall to the Computer Club. Even Suou drifted along with us.

The Computer Club president demanded to know who we were. Nagato introduced herself as the president of the Literature Club and addressed each member of the Computer Club by name. She told each one of them something she said they had shared with her, and each seemed shocked to hear these things.

"Wait, wait, wait. When did you met us?" The Computer Club president rose from his chair and looked down at Nagato.

She looked up at him with determination in her eyes. "It was at the start of summer vacation, later this year. We were some of the only students left around, and you seemed very disturbed. I asked you what the problem was, and you said you had a bug in Day of Sagittarius III. You finally let me look at it, and I figured it out. So then you gave me that computer over there."

"Oh come on, we haven't even finished Day of Sagittarius II yet. One of you jokers must be putting her up to this, right?" He looked over his club, but nobody volunteered.

"You said that Day of Sagittarius II was boring and that the big change in III was to be the addition of hidden movement and scouting."

He turned back to Nagato. "Damn. You're right. That would be a neat change. How do you know about this? Well fine, you can have that old computer. We'll even run a network cable to your clubroom."

"Old computer? Can you edit videos on it?" Suzumiya asked.

He almost snorted at Suzumiya in contempt. "Don't be stupid. It doesn't have nearly enough RAM, and the CPU and graphics card are a few generations behind, but it's good enough for web browsing and word processing. You're the Literature Club, not the Film Club."

Suzumiya stood her ground. "Give us your newest and most powerful computer."

"Why should we do that?" He held up his hands and shrugged. "We have to buy these with our own money."

"It's not a question of money. We have the girl who has already seen and fixed this bug, that you haven't even written yet. We're offering you months of your own time, straight out of the rabbit hole. What store are you going to go buy that from?" Suzumiya put her hands on Nagato's shoulders and gave her dreadful, mischievous smile.

"Okay, so what's that bug then?" The computer club president adjusted his glasses.

Nagato explained some sort of logic error in a file of some sort.

He looked at her in shock. "Yeah, that's the kind of mistake I'd make, and yeah, I'd need a file like that. Okay, it's a deal, but you'll need to type in the parts you saw, or will see, or how do you say this?"

Nagato nodded.

Suzumiya insisted on getting a computer desk and office chair also. For Nagato's comfort while typing in their files, she explained.

As the Computer Club members started moving everything over, and wiring the network, we returned to our clubroom.

Suzumiya beamed at the geeks laboring away, then turned to her rival. "There, Sasaki, see? Time travel exists. Now we just need aliens, espers and sliders, I guess."

"Suzumiya, the most logical explanation remains that the Computer Club set this all up with Nagato beforehand. But I do appreciate the generosity of whomever set this in motion. Having a computer will help with looking up references for the Literature Club."

"Any old computer could do that. This one will allow us to edit my movie." Suzumiya reached up and made a grasping motion, as if she was pulling a star down to Earth.

Sasaki noted the new element in Suzumiya's ever more eleborate schemes before I caught it. "What movie?"

Suzumiya grabbed Sasaki by the shoulders, pulled her towards herself, and stared into her eyes. "But I finally have something boring enough for you to do. Every great movie requires a novelization. You just type in everything in my movie, and then I'll edit it to be not boring." Suzumiya released Sasaki and turned to the president of the Literature Club. "So, Nagato, how did you travel in time?"

Sasaki stood there blushing for a moment, then blinked, stepped back and took her usual seat.

Nagato put her chin in her hand as she looked down in thought, then looked back up at Suzumiya. "I don't know. It was late December and I was out walking. I was thinking about Kyon, and then suddenly I was back here in May and he was in my apartment."

"Kyon, you're seeing both Nagato and Asakura? Sorry, it's your own life." Sasaki turned away.

"No, no, it's nothing like that!" Nagato shook her head vigorously, and blushed just the tinest amount.

Suzumiya looked at me with narrowed eyes, then turned back to Nagato. "Okay, so what am I going to say next?"

Nagato shook her head. "I don't know."

"But, didn't you already live through this time?"

"Yes, but none of you were in this clubroom back then, I mean now. I was the only member of the club all year. Nobody else joined."

"So, I could kill you right now, and it wouldn't cause a paradox?" Suzumiya reached her hands towards Nagato.

"No, I don't know?" Nagato backed up, then turned to me with pleading eyes.

"Cut it out, Suzumiya." I almost reached over and slapped her. "Nagato's your trump card, remember?"

"Nobody knows how to take a joke anymore." Suzumiya crossed her arms and pouted.

A calm voice of reason sounded from the table. "Nagato, do not tell anybody else that you are a time traveler. In fact, none of you should mention this to anybody else. Whatever happened, it's been quite a shock for her."

We all agreed to Sasaki's request, except for Suou, who never really did much anyway.

Except of course for helping to save my life the previous day. And there she was, sitting in silent passivity once again.

I took stock of Suzumiya's checklist. Nagato seemed to be a time traveler, or perhaps a slider? Suou seemed alien enough. Did that mean that Asakura must be an esper? I kept my suspicions to myself.

Nagato seemed to have things well in hand with her Computer Club friends, so I left with Sasaki.

Suzumiya followed us down the hill. "Give me a ride too!"

"I can't carry both of you on my bicycle, and you live in a different direction than us."

Suzumiya's eyes shined with her mania. "No, through time, Kyon. Let's go see the pyramids being built, or meet Genji Minamoto."

"Genji is a fictional character. Murasaki Shikibu may have existed." Sasaki was as skeptical as usual, even towards historical controversies that made no difference to me.

Suzumiya glanced at Sasaki for only a moment then returned her intense gaze towards me. "That's what I meant."

I held up my hands. "Suzumiya, I can't travel through time. Whatever happened to Nagato has nothing to do with me."

"Hmph! I'll get to the bottom of this. Don't think you can get away with this favoritism so easily, Kyon." Suzumiya wagged her finger at me, then turned and walked away.

"She may be right."

"What?" I turned away from watching Suzumiya's backside as she marched off.

Sasaki frowned at me. "You are starting to seem a bit like Mr. Minamoto. So, Kyon, what is your relationship with Miss Nagato? Not that it's really any of my business."

"Sasaki, I only went to Nagato's apartment because Asahina said she could help us."

"Miss Asahina also? Are there any of the other girls in our club who haven't show you their panties yet? Surely not Miss Suou?"

"I was paralyzed at the time. I couldn't close my eyes even if I'd wanted to."

"But you didn't want to look away? Shall we tell Miss Suzumiya that we have a script for her movie then? It seems to be the tale of a modern Genji Minamoto."

I sighed as we continued down the hill towards the train station.

On Friday we repeated the silent commute to school. Sasaki seemed to be interpreting everything I said in the worst possible way, and I was running out of words. Suddenly amazing, impossible things were happening to me on a daily basis, and my close friend of almost a year was treating it all as my fault. She was walking right next to me, but with every step she seemed to be getting further away.

"Kyon!" Taniguchi ran up the hill and caught up with us. "What exactly is your relationship with Asakura?"

"Yes, Sasaki mentioned something about you and Asakura." Suzumiya had been waiting in ambush just out of sight, at the point where her path to school intersected with ours. In addition to her bookbag, she carried a paper bag.

I sighed.

"What did you mean, Sasaki?" Suzumiya stood directly in front of her.

"It's none of my business." Sasaki stopped and looked away from Suzumiya, with her fingers twiching nervously at her sides.

Something about Suzumiya's bullying of Sasaki was starting to really get to me so I stepped up to her. "Asakura tried to kill me."

"Kyon, I didn't see much, but it looked like the reverse to me." Sasaki looked down at the ground and blushed.

"The reverse of killing?" That idiot Taniguchi tried to make sense of Sasaki's words. "Is that what her group is here to do? Why would she go after you, Kyon, instead of one of these two?" He pointed at the two girls.

"what are you talking about, Taniguchi?" I stared at him in amazement.

"Sorry. You're being such a bastard that's it making my head spin." He gave me a solid punch in the gut and I fell over.

"Hit him again!" Suzumiya looked down at me with gritted teeth.

"I don't work for you." Taniguchi glared at Suzumiya then turned away and stormed up the hill.

Suzumiya followed after him at a more moderate pace, while Sasaki helped me to my feet. She asked if I needed to go to the nurse's, but I said I just had the wind knocked out of me.

When we got to the classroom, Suzumiya was sitting at her desk and looking out the window. Taniguchi was talking to Asakura, but he stopped when she shifted her gaze over to me. She put on her standard lovely smile, but I thought I could almost see the cracks in the paint.

At lunch Sasaki did not turn around. She simply ate at her own desk.

Kunikida pulled his chair up to my desk. "What happened between you and Sasaki. Did I miss something at the club meeting yesterday?"

"Remember the promise, Kyon. Don't tell him here." At least Sasaki was still paying attention.

"What?" Kunikida glanced her way then turned back to me.

"Yeah, Kunikida, come to the clubroom later. Apparently a miracle has occurred."

"A miracle?" His expression wasn't so much the puzzlement I had expected, but rather alarm and a strange sense of dread.

I decided to push the point a little bit further. "Perhaps something even more astounding than that. Suzumiya was finally proven right."

Sasaki turned around for a moment to frown at me, then returned to picking at her lunch.

Kunikida glanced at Sasaki then looked at me with what seemed to be genuine concern in his eyes. "You're not falling for Suzumiya, are you, Kyon?"

"Kunikida, I could never compete with her favorite person," I replied in a whisper as I nodded towards the door. The sudden tension in the air had warned me of Suzumiya's reappearance in time.

Kunikida was almost beside himself on the way to the clubroom, but I waited until the door was closed behind us before I spilled the beans. "Well Kunikida, apparently miss Nagato here is a time traveler." I pointed at the girl who was typing on the computer.

"A time traveler? But, she's an ali-, a time traveler?"

"Yeah, from the far distant time period of this next December."

He turned to her. "Ah, Miss Nagato, are you sure about this?"

She looked up from typing on the computer for a moment. "I thought I was crazy too, Mr. Kunikida, but it seems to be the facts." Then it beeped and she looked back down at the screen and started typing again.

"Your new fan club?" I asked.

She looked directly at me. "It's the Computer Club members. They all want to chat at the same time."

"Then go over there and talk to them in person." I motioned to the door.

"Is that okay?"

Kunikida walked over and read the screen over her shoulder. "I'll go with you."

I sat down at the table. "Don't worry, Kunikida. I'm sure that like most geeks, they're harmless to girls."

Nagato stood and looked around the clubroom. "Who will run the Literature Club meeting today?"

"I'll handle it." I offered.

"I appoint you vice-president, Kyon. If you don't mind?"

"That's fine. I look forwards to working with you." I bowed to Nagato.

"Uh... Me, too." She blushed, bowed back to me, then left with Kunikida.

A minute later the static sensation struck the room as Suzumiya arrived with the paper bag. She must have stored it in her shoe locker during classes and had taken a side trip to pick it up.

"Kyon's the vice-president." Sasaki's voice had a tiny bit of smugness as her eyes followed Suzumiya.

"What?" Suzumiya turned to Sasaki. "I never agreed to that! Oh, you mean the Literature Club. Yeah, whatever. Miruku, look what I've got for you." She held up the paper bag.

I turned to Asahina. I hadn't noticed her sitting in the corner. She looked like she wanted to just curl up and die.

"Come on." Suzumiya grabbed her hand and yanked her to her feet. "Get undressed."

"What are you doing?" Sasaki frowned at Suzumiya.

"I brought her maid costume." Suzumiya held up the bag.

"Miss Asahina, you don't have to let her do this." Sasaki stood up.

"It doesn't matter." Asahina looked down at the floor. "Nothing does."

"See? She doesn't mind." Suzumiya looked over Sasaki's body for a moment, glanced down at the paper bag then shook her head and turned back to Asahina.

"I'm going to get some tea." I picked up my bookbag.

"I think I'll join you." Sasaki grabbed hers.

Suou floated along behind us to the cafeteria. I briefly considered offering to buy her some tea, but thought better of it.

We sat in silence, sipping at our tea as Suou sat beside me staring off into space.

I was pondering what I could say to Sasaki when Asakura entered the cafeteria. I thought about running, but figured that sitting between Sasaki and Suou was the safest place to be, somehow.

Asakura addressed me by my actual name and said that the matter she had brought up with me previously was on hold for the moment. She bowed at me then turned around and walked away. That strange lovely smile never slipped from her face.

Sasaki watched Asakura walk away. "So it seems that you're down one girlfriend, Kyon. What does that leave the count at now?"

"I don't have any girlfriends, sorry."

"Oh? Suou, what do you see in Kyon?" Sasaki turned to the strange girl.

Suou smiled at Sasaki for half a minute, and then finally said. "Eyes pretty." As usual, the voice sounded in my head and her lips never moved.

Was she talking about me, Sasaki, or perhaps Asakura? She said nothing further, so we all returned to the clubroom.

Suzumiya showed off her new maid, and said that she'd soon pick up a tea service. She coached Asahina through the duties of a "clumsy maid" and when Nagato returned, she said that the first brigade outing would be a nine a.m. the next morning at the train station, and that everybody should be there.

"And what exactly would we be doing?" Sasaki asked.

"Scouting locations!" Suzumiya locked gazes with Sasaki for a few seconds then gently bit her lip and turned away. "You don't have to attend, Sasaki."

"I'll be there all right." Sasaki stepped up to Suzumiya.

"You will?" Suzumiya looked back at her, with an expression I couldn't read. It was as if she couldn't decide which of several emotions to express.

"To make sure you don't abuse my club members." Sasaki handed Suzumiya her half-empty cup of tea.

"Thanks." Suzumiya looked Sasaki in the eyes for a moment, then drank down the rest of the tea.


	4. Chapter 4

On Saturday morning, we had a visitor just as my family was finishing breakfast.

My sister ran to the door and hugged our visitor. "Sasaki-sister! Can you stay all day?"

"Sorry, but I need to go to a school function with your brother." Sasaki knelt down to hug my sister back.

There was something about this display of affection between the two of them that disturbed me in a way it never had before. "Nice to see you, Sasaki. But what makes you think I'm going?"

Sasaki released my sister and stood. "You'd leave Misses Nagato and Asahina to Suzumiya for the day?"

"You're skipping over Suou?"

"Suzumiya doesn't seem to pay much attention to her." Sasaki smiled at my joke.

"That seems to be the one and only case, where you are stranger than Suzumiya." I sat down next to Sasaki at the door, and put on my outdoor shoes.

"Now, now. Suou may be a bit shy, but she's made it into the same school as we have. I've noticed that even Nagato has warmed up a bit around you over the past week. You do have your own way of reaching out to people, when you try."

"Your words suggest that I don't even try all that often." I opened the door for her.

My sister grabbed my hand. "Kyon, when will you be back, and when can I meet all these people?"

"I don't know, little sister. All of these things are decided at higher levels than mine."

Sasaki waited until we were on our way before continuing. "Just what exactly is your relationship with miss Asahina?"

"She approached me once to go with her to ask Nagato about something. Other than that, you've seen at least as much of her as I have."

"Oh, what did she ask about?" Sasaki's fingers tightened slightly on my shoulders as we turned a corner with the bicycle.

"Time travel, I think."

"So it was Asahina who set up this time travel hoax?"

"She seemed a little bit too shook up to planning a prank."

"Or she might be a much better actress than you suspect. So what happened after that?"

"Asahina stayed overnight with Nagato."

Sasaki didn't respond to that. She didn't need to.

When we reached the station I saw that Nagato and Asahina were standing next to Suzumiya with Suou standing behind Nagato, as if she had been painted onto the background. While Suzumiya and Asahina matched the casual style of clothing Sasaki and I wore, both Nagato and Suou were in their school uniforms.

Despite what Sasaki had said, Suou's problem wasn't behavioral. Her problem was that she fit in poorly with the natural laws of our Universe. Was she really a registered student at our school, or did she just don a semblance of a North High school uniform in order to blend in? It took less than a second for my thoughts to jump from illusionary clothes to naked alien girl. In horror, I banished the thought.

"You're late, Kyon." The actual behavioral problem girl pointed at me. "You're fined."

"I'm here five minutes before nine. Even if your own watch is busted, just look at the train station clock, Suzumiya."

"The last person to a meeting is always late, because he selfishly made the others wait for his arrival."

"Well how about Sasaki then? She came with me."

"She wasn't invited, and so does not count." Suzumiya glanced at Sasaki then turned away.

Sasaki put her hand on Suzumiya's shoulder. "So what are we going to do today?"

Suzumiya moved away from Sasaki's hand, then looked back at it. "Let's go to that cafe and talk it over. Kyon's treat." Suzumiya grabbed Sasaki's outstretched hand and lead her to the cafe, releasing Sasaki's hand in order to open the door for her.

The seating arrangement was myself, Sasaki and Suou, facing Asahina, Suzumiya and Nagato. We ordered drinks, except that the waitress skipped over Suou. I was starting to feel sorry for the alien girl, or perhaps it was just gratitude for her saving my life.

"So what are your plans for today, Suzumiya?" Sasaki studied her face.

Suzumiya looked back at Sasaki for a moment then turned to the window. "We're going to find locations to shoot my movie at."

"Then you don't need the rest of us. Would you like to come with me to the library, Nagato?"

"You can't take Nagato. She's the star of the movie."

"Um, I... I didn't bring the library books I need to return." Nagato fidgeted.

"And Asahina, surely you don't want to follow Suzumiya around all day?"

"I must." Asahina stared down at her untouched drink.

"Suou?"

"With ... you." Suou responded to Sasaki. I think it was her first words of the day.

"Kyon?"

I looked over the five girls, then returned to the one who might solve this. "Nagato, do you have anything else to wear, other than your school uniforms?"

"No, not much." She looked over at me then turned away.

I turned to Suzumiya. "Then that settles it. If your star is going to be dressed as a North High student, then logically most of your scenes will be shot at North High."

Suzumiya looked down at Nagato. "Fine. We'll fix her wardrobe first, and then pick the landscapes to match."

"And who's got the money for this shopping trip? You can't expect me to pick up the tab for that too?"

"I've been saving up my trust fund."

I turned back to Nagato. "Then why haven't you bought any clothes?"

"I don't go out much and I don't know what to buy."

"Do you like the styles that Miss Asahina is wearing?"

Nagato leaned forwards to look around Suzumiya. "I don't think it'd look as good on me."

"But you agree that she has good taste for fashion?"

Nagato looked back to me. "I guess?"

I turned back to my own bench. "Sasaki, you seem to have a good eye for these things. Will you help out your fellow student?"

"Of course." She smiled at me.

"Kyon, you're not turning into a fashion designer, are you?"

"No way, Suzumiya. I'm just here to carry the bags."

And so began a rather boring day of shopping for clothes. At least Asahina seemed to cheer up a bit. Suou would stand or sit next to me while the other four girls went to select things for Nagato. Suzumiya and Sasaki would always argue over the results, while Nagato would wait for my opinion of how the outfits looked on her. I relied on Asahina's nod or shake of her head from behind the other girls, rather than my own limited knowledge of women's fashion.

Sasaki would occasionally ask Suou if she'd like to try something on, but never got a positive response back.

At the end of the day, my bicycle was loaded down with the packages so I walked it alongside Nagato back to her apartment, while the other girls returned to their homes.

As I was walking my bike back out to the street, I thought I felt eyes on me from Nagato's apartment building. I turned around, but saw nobody.

Monday morning as Sasaki and I entered the classroom, I saw that Suzumiya had her evil smile on.

She waited until we had taken our seats before jumping to the point. "I win again."

Knowing I'd regret it, I turned to look at her. "What did you win?"

"Not one, but two mysterious transfer students came to North High today."

"Perhaps they're siblings or close friends?"

"They came here from different schools. This proves that they are secret agents who have been sent here to investigate my time traveler." She pointed at me.

Sasaki sighed, but didn't have time to prepare her rebuttal as the teacher had arrived in the classroom.

After classes I went with Sasaki to the clubroom, while Suzumiya ran off to a different classroom.

Asahina sat lifelessly at the table, while Suou turned mechanically towards us as we entered.

I heard a ping and glanced over to see Nagato read something off the computer monitor and then type in a response.

I walked over to stand behind her chair. "Is all this chatting with new friends eating into your reading time?"

"Hi Kyon. I did promise to help them with their code. I do most of my reading at home these days."

"Just tell them that you've got free time at home, and I bet they'll rush over to your apartment with an even better computer and networking gear. Nothing is too good for their goddess."

"Please don't." She removed her hands from the keyboard to rub at her right wrist with her left hand.

"Let me see that."

She held up her right hand.

I felt the stiffness in her wrist and started to massage it out. "You're not used to all this typing. I bet you overdid the reading when you were young and that's why you have to wear glasses." I worked on her other hand and then told her to lean back so I could massage her shoulders.

Nagato was sitting there practically purring under my hands, when Suzumiya entered the clubroom.

Suzumiya frowned at me, then moved out of the doorway and pointed back to the hall. "Presenting our mysterious transfer students, Itsuki Koizumi and Kyouko Tachibana!"

"Surely I'm not mysterious at all." Tachibana entered with a sales girl's smile and looked around. "So this is the Literature Club?"

"Yes, nice to meet you Miss Tachibana." Sasaki rose out of her chair.

"And it's so nice to met you Miss Sasaki."

Sasaki caught that she hadn't been introduced, but allowed the new girl to shake her hand anyway.

"No, it's the SOS brigade!" Suzumiya turned to the new boy. "And these are the members, Mikuru Asahina, Kuyou Suou, Yuki Nagato and Kyon."

When did Suou join anything?

"This SOS brigade sounds interesting. What does it do?" Koizumi had the smile of a game show host.

"We seek out aliens, time travelers and espers, so that we can have fun with them!"

Sasaki sighed as she turned to respond to Suzumiya.

This was going to get ugly, and I'd already been through all of it before. I turned to Nagato. "Can I get you some tea?"

"Yes please." She started typing in responses to the chats from the Computer Club members.

"Kyon, can you show me where the refreshments are? I'm afraid that I just joined today and don't know my way around yet." Tachibana smiled like she was about to sell me something, on credit.

"I'll come along also."

"Oh, no, Miss Sasaki. I'll get your tea for you."

Sasaki gave me an amused look. She had also caught how she had not been asked what it was she wanted, but was willing to play along for now.

"I also am new to this school, so I trust that you will not mind if I tag along?" Koizumi's smile seemed to suggest that he had his hand on a button that would dunk an unfortunate contestant into a pool of water.

"Yes, perhaps it would save time if Kyon updated us both at the same time." Tachibana's smile dared Koizumi to do his worst.

"Speaking of service, why aren't you in your maid's uniform, Mikuru?" Suzumiya grabbed the paper bag off the shelf.

Koizumi held the door open for Tachibana and myself, and then she led the way to the cafeteria. She held up her hand before I could operate the drink machine. "Perhaps we three could chat a moment before we get the drinks for the others? No sense letting them get cold."

We sat at a table in the otherwise empty room with our three cups of fresh tea.

Their fake smiles were getting to me, so I asked. "What brings you two to North High?"

"I admit that I transferred here, simply because my 'friend' Miss Tachibana did." Koizumi nodded towards her.

"So your organization has a source in mine, Mr. Koizumi? That narrows it down a bit. It must be somebody who knew about my transfer, but not the reason for it." She raised her hand to her chin.

"And that would be?" He raised an eyebrow, but continued to smile.

"One of your allies has gone rogue." She pointed at him. " Miss Nagato has started telling people that she's a time traveler. She even told Suzumiya and Sasaki."

"She's not a time traveler."

"Apparently being an extraterrestrial was getting boring, so she decided to switch to being a time traveler. It must be the new fashion or something." Tachibana shrugged.

"Nagato's an alien?" I asked.

"Not anymore." Tachibana smiled at me then turned back to Koizumi. "What did you pick up off her aura?"

"Dormant time traveler, but it's hard to tell with the ETs."

"And with Miss Suou?" Her smile took on an edge of satisfaction.

"Clearly alien."

"What are you two talking about?"

"Oh. My apologies, Kyon. Mr. Koizumi and I haven't told you that we're espers. Does that make it clearer?"

"Really? Okay, levitate this cup with your mental powers then."

"It doesn't work that way. The powers of Miss Tachibana and myself only allow us to sense extraordinary things, under most circumstances."

"So why are you telling me all this? Why not tell Suzumiya that aliens and espers exist so she can win the argument with Sasaki?"

"Ladies first?" Koizumi asked Tachibana.

"As you wish. Kyon, I suspect that you like a predictable world that is free of strange unexplainable events, and yet recently you have witnessed exactly these kinds of events in your own life. The reason for this is that the avatars of Order and Chaos have joined your classroom."

"Taniguchi and Kunikida?" I asked.

"Not quite. They are Suzumiya and Sasaki. One of them has the power to throw the world into screaming Chaos while the other maintains the Order of the world. It should be obvious to you which is which."

"Yeah, yeah. So what has this got to do with me?"

"Your turn." Tachibana smiled at Koizumi.

"Kyon, have you heard of the poem Fire and Ice by Robert Frost?"

"I can't say I have."

"Suppose I asked you to decide how the world will end. The world can either boil away or be plunged into eternal cold darkness. In either case all life would be extinguished. The decision is entirely yours, and the moment you decide, the end will be implemented. How would you respond?"

I frowned at this useless puzzle. "I would decline to answer for as long as possible."

"An excellent decision. To use an example closer to home, consider the Taoist concept of yin-yang. The objective is not to get either Yin nor Yang to win, but to move them into balance."

"So what do I have to do with this?" I raised my empty hands.

"Kyon, you hold the balance in your hands. This is obvious to we who are espers, but we can not explain how we know this. Words actually fail us. Recently two elements that seem naturally to fit on Suzumiya's side appear to have been neutralized by factors unknown to my organization. So I ask you to favor Suzumiya slightly over Sasaki to compensate for this."

"Bullshit!" The smile didn't leave Tachibana's mouth, but there was anger in her eyes. "We've only seen one actual time traveler, who we do not know the true motives of, and the aliens could be lying about which avatar they are really interested in. On top of that, both Asahina and Nagato could be faking their distress. This entire thing smells like a plot from your side to pretend to be wounded so you can take over. Even with Nagato out of the way, you still have two aliens on your side to only one on ours."

"There are more aliens?" I asked.

Tachibana turned to me with her smile back in place. "In addition to Miss Nagato, Ryouko Asakura and Emiri Kimidori are also aliens on the side of Chaos."

"While Kuyou Suou seems to be interested in Miss Sasaki." Koizumi rose. "Shall we go back before they send out a search party for us? I would advise keeping all of this from Miss Suzumiya and Miss Sasaki, unless you want to see them break out in an open conflict of cosmic powers on the face of this poor Earth."

Back at the clubroom I handed a vending machine cup of tea to Nagato, while Tachibana gave one to Sasaki and Koizumi delivered a cup to each of Suzumiya and Asahina. The last looking stunning in her maid's outfit as usual. Suou didn't seem to notice the slight.

Suzumiya apologized for the lack of in-clubroom tea service (and how many high school clubrooms are supposed to offer that?) and then revealed to the two newcomers the amazing secret that Yuki Nagato was a time traveler. Koizumi seemed to be very impressed by this, while Tachibana pressed for proof.

On the bicycle ride to her house, Sasaki leaned down to put her head next to mine. "I sensed one odd thing today."

"Only one?"

"As you are no doubt aware, my family is far from the most wealthy, even among the students at North High. However Miss Tachibana acts as if she expects to get a very large sum of money from me. Ah, I can feel from your shoulders, that I am close to, but not exactly on target. Let me relay the most interesting bit of news about this. Miss Tachibana did not transfer to North High from another school. She has been privately tutored since middle school."

"When did you learn all this?"

"As soon as you departed during an inter-class break to use the restroom, Mr. Kunikida rushed over to my desk and attempted to impress on me the virtues of his old friend Miss Tachibana. Apparently she has a giant house and we should have a party at their private pool as soon as the weather gets a little warmer."

"This is the same Kunikida who thinks we'd make such a lovely couple? I didn't know he moved in such high social circles."

"It is news to me as well. What with this time travel hoax, I fear that we are heading towards some great embarrassment. It would be nice if we could keep each other informed about such things. A known hazard can be skillfully avoided, while an unknown hazard is simply a matter of luck."

I pedaled in silence and stopped in front of her house.

"Ah, perhaps I ask too much." Sasaki got off my bike and stood facing me. "Very well then. I will keep you informed to the best of my ability, so that at least one of us might see the hazards. On another matter, if you do not mind my asking, how did your date go Saturday night?"

"Date?"

"I had to grab Suou's hand to keep her from following you and Miss Nagato."

"There was no date. I simply carried Nagato's packages up to her apartment and then hurried home for dinner."

"Not even a peck on the cheek? Be careful with Miss Nagato. I have seen such a look in a person's eyes before. She has kept herself away from others so long, so that now when a knight appears, she can refuse him nothing. All restraint in your relationship must come from yourself, so I ask you to carefully consider your moves with her. Perhaps she will outgrow this in time."

"Where have you seen such a look before?"

"Recently? In the mirror, every morning as I brush my hair. Good night." Sasaki smiled, bowed to me, turned, and walked into her house.


	5. Chapter 5

After we had dropped my sister off at her elementary school on Tuesday morning, Sasaki got onto the bicycle behind me for the ride to our school.

"Something troubling you?" she asked, with fake innocence.

"Yesterday, a friend of mine told me something that left a giant question mark hanging over my head."

"Perhaps you could ask her to clarify the issue?"

"It sounded both like a confession, and a plea not to act on it."

"Then perhaps you understand her well enough already."

"She's a really good friend, and I don't want to lose that. I will try to understand her feelings, but I won't try to act on them, until she says otherwise."

"That sounds sensible enough, and as for Miss Nagato?"

"An even bigger question, since I did not hear it from her. Again it seems I must wait and see what she does."

"Is that too heavy a load for you to carry, Kyon?"

"No, I'm getting used to people dropping landmines on me these days."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. As you said, Sasaki, it's a good thing for me to become aware of hidden hazards."

I entered the classroom behind Sasaki, in order to brace myself for the strange sensation of being in a room with both so-called goddesses. I considered how odd it must be that it didn't apply outdoors, or at any fixed radius, but just when they were both in the same room. It was like they were waging a battle to control any fixed space around them. Tachibana had called it a war between Order and Chaos while Koizumi had said it was a matter of cosmic balance. Perhaps we were all just imagining things.

Asakura, Taniguchi, and Kunikida had all looked over as Sasaki entered, but Suzumiya was writing something in a notebook. No, she was sketching, with longer arcs of her pencil than would be needed for writing. I didn't ask what she was doing. I was just happy to start the day with her already pre-distracted.

Suzumiya took out her notebook to work on her sketch between classes, instead of doing her usual patrols, but she still dashed out of the classroom as soon as the lunch bell sounded.

"What is Suzumiya up to?" Kunikida asked me as he joined Sasaki and myself for lunch.

"No idea." I shrugged.

"I'm sorry Sasaki." He turned to her. "But I need to drop out of the Literature Club."

"An order from your boss Tachibana?" I asked him.

He glanced around in fright then turned back to me. "She's just a friend."

The espers had opened my eyes with their talk of secret organizations. I decided to smoke out all the rats. "So who does Taniguchi work for?"

"How would I know? I mean, he's just a high school student."

Taniguchi put down his lunch and walked over. "Are you bad mouthing me Kyon?"

"I was just asking Kunikida if he knew if you had a part time job."

"Why?"

"I've been treating girls out to lunch. It cuts into my allowance. I know that any place you'd work would be easy money, but I didn't want your recommendation getting in the way."

"Truly, I'm hurt." Taniguchi seemed relieved at my explanation. Perhaps he was just an idiot, or perhaps one of the best actors in this little charade.

I decided to call his bluff. "So, have you been building up a war chest to fund your future conquests?"

"I should get on that, perhaps over the next break."

"So how goes things with Asakura?" I nodded towards our murderous, alien class representative.

"Nothing yet, I'm afraid." Taniguchi glanced over to ensure that she wasn't sneaking up on us.

"Why don't you get her alone in a room and confess your undying love to her? Tell her that you will follow her always, for as long as your heart still beats."

"Ha ha, Kyon. Always the comedian." Taniguchi's eyes widened just a moment in fear, then he returned to his lunch.

I could see that Asakura had turned from her circle of girl lackeys and had raised an eyebrow at this.

Sasaki raised an eyebrow herself. "Don't you need to focus on your studies, instead of part time jobs, Kyon?"

After classes Suzumiya dashed off at warp speed while Sasaki walked along with me at a more sensible pace.

On the walk towards the clubroom, Sasaki moved to the side of the courtyard where the traffic was least, so I followed her.

"Going somewhere, Sasaki?"

"No, I just wanted to ask about Asakura. Do you still have feelings for her?" Sasaki studied my face.

"I never did. What you saw was just a misunderstanding."

"Oh? Then what really happened that day?"

"She was berating me about my poor grades. I was backing away and tripped. She stumbled on top of me. Nothing more."

"If you say so." Sasaki turned back towards the clubroom.

Because of the detour, we were the last ones to enter the clubroom. Asahina was in her maid outfit and was preparing tea with an electric hotpad. Was that even allowed in the clubrooms?

Tachibana and Koizumi were sitting across from each other at the table and playing chess, while Suou was in her usual seat.

Nagato was back in her corner reading, because Suzumiya was using the computer. Suzumiya seemed to be mostly using the mouse. Was she playing a game?

We gave our greetings. I took my usual seat across from Sasaki and turned to Asahina, "Where did you get the tea set?"

She looked up. "Suzumiya brought it."

"I hope I get the chance to try your tea." I made a cursory bow to her.

"Yuki." Suzumiya rose from the office chair in front of the computer. "Upload this image to the front page of our website."

Nagato put down her book. "The Literature Club website?"

"No, the SOS Brigade website." Suzumiya turned the chair towards Nagato.

"Okay." Nagato sat down and swiveled in the chair to look at the computer screen.

There was a loud clang, as if two metal rods had been banged against each other. Had that even been a sound? I couldn't place the source. I looked around and saw that Asahina and Sasaki were also looking around, while Suou had vanished.

Tachibana and Koizumi were looking over at Suzumiya. Their usual smiles were replaced with expressions of bewilderment.

Suzumiya had grabbed Nagato and was pulling her out of the chair with one hand while she had her other hand in the smaller girl's mouth.

I ran over to her. "What are you doing to Nagato?"

"Trying to keep her from swallowing her tongue. She's having a seizure. Give me a hand with her."

I pushed the office chair out of the way, and helped to lower Nagato to the floor. She was twitching as her eyes moved independently.

"Hold her down, Kyon. Don't let her hit anything solid."

Yuki was stronger that she looked, at least in this condition, but I finally managed to use my weight to pin her.

After another minute she relaxed and her eyes moved as a pair to look at me. "Kyon, what are you doing?"

"Yuki! You should have told us you were epileptic." Suzumiya was holding Nagato's head in her lap.

"Epileptic?" Nagato looked up at Suzumiya.

"What other health problems do you have?" Suzumiya smoothed down Nagato's hair.

"I've been perfectly healthy, for as long as I can remember." Nagato seemed honestly astonished to be asked such a thing.

"It must be a side effect of being a time traveler." Suzumiya continued to study Nagato's face.

I got off Nagato, stood and looked at Asahina, but she shook her head. Tachibana and Koizumi had also looked towards our resident time traveler, while Sasaki and Suzumiya remained focused on Nagato.

Nagato sat up, then looked down and saw that she had wet herself. "Excuse me, I must go clean up."

Suzumiya lifted Nagato to her feet. "Mikuru, grab her other arm. We're taking her to the girls room."

"The ambulance will be here in five minutes." As Koizumi turned towards us, I saw that he was listening to his cellphone.

"We'll meet them out at the street." Suzumiya led the chain of Nagato and Asahina out of the room.

"Kyon, is there anything flashing on the screen?"

"What?" I looked at Koizumi then down at the computer screen. "Just a strange drawing, and it's not blinking." I looked back up and saw that Koizumi and Tachibana were studying me closely.

"Close that program please." He commanded, rather than asked, but an instant later the fake smile returned to his face as he remembered the part he was playing.

"Why aren't you worried about Nagato?" Sasaki asked him.

It was Tachibana who responded to her, with her own smile mask back on. "Koizumi is worried that the image may have been an epileptic trigger. In case Nagato has to return to this room to pick up something, we don't want her looking at it again."

"Oh, silly me. Sorry."

I closed the program and shut down the computer.

Tachibana seemed satisfied that I wasn't the most interesting person in the room anymore. "Don't be sorry, Lady Sasaki. I'm sure this must come as a great shock to you."

"I'm just really impressed with everybody in the clubroom. It's like it's the Emergency Medical Technicians club. Say, where did Suou go?" Sasaki looked around.

"I think she ran off to get help when the attack started."

I let Tachibana's lie stand, but I'd like to know myself.

"There is one thing I can do." Sasaki grabbed the paper bag with Asahina's school outfit and dashed out the door, leaving me alone with the two espers.

"What happened to Nagato?" I asked them. Tachibana shrugged, then smiled at Koizumi. "She's your alien, time traveler, esper or whatever, right?"

Koizumi frowned. "Her aura is currently unstable. I will reserve judgment for the moment, other than to note that she is certainly full of surprises."

"Will she be okay?" I asked.

For once he used what seemed to be an honest smile as he responded. "First we would have to define what okay is, for aliens. One thing that is clear, is that the probability of these being their real faces is very very low. Perhaps they are just playing with us poor humans."

We went outside to wait for the ambulance.

Nagato came out in the maid dress, which fit her like a tent.

Asahina was back in her school uniform, and with Suzumiya flanked and supported Nagato by the arms.

I looked around for even one giggle, but the gathered crowd of students seemed to take this all seriously.

Tachibana looked at the ambulance then back to Koizumi. "That's your private hospital."

"Can you think of a better facility for this case? We'll discuss this tomorrow."

Koizumi entered the ambulance to "handle the paperwork", but it was clear to me that the techs were reporting to him. Suzumiya insisted on accompanying Nagato, and the rest of us gathered our things to head off to our homes.

As Sasaki and I were turning to go, I saw the Computer Club president running up.

"What happened to Yuki?" He asked.

That bastard was already on a first name basis with her? Well I knew how to fix his little red wagon. "She had an epileptic attack. Apparently she's been using the computer too much recently."

On the walk down to the station where my bike was parked, Sasaki asked me if this was true and I just shrugged.

That evening after I had turned off my room light and settled into bed I closed my eyes, but sleep eluded me.

I felt a presence, so I opened my eyes. Two girls were standing there in North High school uniforms. I sat up and turned to them. "Hello?"

Ryouko Asakura swept out her arms and the walls and ceiling of my room changed to those strange geometric glowing shapes.

I saw by this strange light, that the other girl had green eyes and hair. "Good evening, Miss Asakura. Who's your friend, and to what do I owe the privilege of your visit this evening?"

"I am called Emiri Kimidori. I am leading the investigation into what has happened to Yuki Nagato."

"Surely you'd know better than I, about your own kind?"

Miss Kimidori studied my face. "The faction behind Miss Nagato has broken the quarantine, in order to contact her. The connection is only partial, and she has not returned to being an interface."

I looked over miss Kimidori. Other than the coloration she seemed completely human, even though her pose would have been more appropriate for an office lady than a high school sophomore. "So she is human?"

"Mr. Kyon, can you define for me what it is to be human?" Kimidori's smile was merely gentle, in contrast to Nagato's shyness and Asakura bland loveliness. Or perhaps I was just getting too used to the same set of inputs from Asakura.

"Sorry, that question is beyond me." I waved it off. "Ask just about anybody else in the brigade or club instead."

"Can you tell us what you did to trigger the two changes in her?" Kimidori continued to question me as Asakura stood beside her with a strained smile.

"I didn't do anything. The first time was when Miss Asahina asked her to check time travel stuff, and the second time was when she looked at an image that Suzumiya had drawn on the computer. I wasn't even the one talking to her in either case."

"The image has been changed to neutralize the effect. Should Miss Suzumiya ask about this, you will make up some reason why you did so." Asakura's smile indicated that deadly consequences would await if I didn't.

Kimidori gave Asakura a warning glance and then turned back to me. "Mr. Kyon, you are still a suspect about these matters. Therefore Miss Asakura will provide you with a sensor token that you will keep with you at all times."

"Why?" Was I really being blackmailed by aliens? I supposed that all life in the Universe wasn't all that different then.

Kimidori's smile lost some of its gentleness. "You can prove your innocence by assisting us with Miss Nagato's recovery, or you can prove your guilt by resisting us."

"I guess I don't have much choice then." I shrugged.

Asakura held up her hand and her knife appeared. She held it by the blade and passed the handle to me.

"I can't show this at school!"

"Then take this as well." Asakura made a gesture as if to pass me something invisible, but her lips had not moved and her voice sounded directly in my head.

"Hey, that's that same not-speaking trick that Suou uses."

Again Asakura's voice sounded in my head. "I require contact in order to use this method of communication. Fortunately my weapon is a part of myself."

I took the unseen item from Asakura, and as I did it appeared. It was a black leather sheath for the combat knife. I put the knife into the sheath and placed it down on my bed. As I removed my hand, the two items vanished, to reappear again as I picked them up again. "Neat trick, but why not make the knife invisible instead?"

"This is for your own protection. My knife is sharper than it looks. Please avoid touching other persons with either item."

I turned back to the two creatures that wore the shapes of human girls. "So will Nagato have another attack, the next time your alien friend contacts her?"

"They are still in communication. You may contact Miss Asakura at any time through the items she has given you. We apologize for the interruption. As you humans say, pleasant dreams." Kimidori snapped her fingers and the pair of aliens vanished. My room was again plunged into ordinary darkness.

I walked over to my closet and clipped the sheath onto the belt I'd wear the next day. No point leaving it out where my sister could run into it.

My cellphone rang and I saw that it was a new number. "Hello?"

"So you survived your close encounter?"

"Yes, Koizumi, I still seem to be intact." I declined to mention the 'gift' I'd been handed, while in the same room with it, so instead I set out a different topic. "How is Miss Nagato?"

"No change in her condition. She will be released in the morning in time for school. We can talk further there. Good night."

Apparently he didn't want to say any more over the phone.

In the morning my sister ran into my room to wake me as usual. As I went to go relieve myself I heard an angry buzz from my closet, so I turned back and clipped the sheath to my pajamas.

My parents seemed to not notice that I wore a knife to breakfast, but my sister gave me a few odd glances.

Sasaki also didn't say anything about it during the ride to school.

Suzumiya looked up when we stepped into the classroom. "Kyon, Yuki has returned to school today, so we're all having lunch in the clubroom. I suppose the Literature Club can attend also, if they insist."

Was that the tinniest sliver of consideration towards Sasaki? Perhaps I was still dreaming.

When I went to use the facilities between classes, Koizumi was waiting and followed to use the urinal next to mine. He glanced down at the invisible knife on my belt. "Kyon, you seem especially gifted today."

He used that line at the urinal? I prayed that nobody else had heard it. "I'm as dangerous as a yakuza working for the Tokyo police." That was about as direct a warning as I dared, while wearing the bug.

"Yuki's body seems one hundred percent human normal, but there is a very interesting high frequency signal on her EEG. It isn't localized and it doesn't seem to have impaired her mental or physical facilities."

"Her friends said that the connection was still active. So there is no way to cut that off without blowing her brains out?"

"Not that we mere humans can devise."

Despite having taken off at an insane dash, Suzumiya wasn't already in the clubroom when we arrived for lunch, but Nagato was reading a book in the corner. Did she always skip lunch? Asahina was in her maid outfit, preparing tea.

Suou followed Sasaki and myself, and we took our usual seats. Had Suou been with us before I opened the door?

Nagato placed a bookmark and looked up at us. "Hi, Kyon and Sasaki. Who's the new girl?"

"What?" I looked around, but saw only the regulars, except for the missing Goddess of Chaos, and the pair of espers.

"Nagato. We're having a party for you. Please bring your chair over here." Sasaki indicated the end spot next to me.

Nagato put down her book and carried her chair over. I guess I should have done that for her?

She took the indicated space then bowed to Suou, across from her. "Hi, I'm Yuki Nagato, pleased to meet you."

Suou smiled at Nagato for a bit then turned to Sasaki.

"Ah, you will have to excuse my friend, Kuyou Suou. She's a bit shy. But surely you two have been together in this same room many times before?"

"It must be my fault then, Miss Sasaki. I've been so distracted with everything."

"A chance to meet new people isn't a fault. You just need to take things easy for a bit. I'm sure that all the members are very glad that you've made such a speedy recovery."

At that point Koizumi arrived and held open the door for Tachibana and Suzumiya.

Nagato was faintly startled, as she noticed the strange sensation of having both so-called goddesses in the same room.

Nagato's days of being an ordinary human being had come to an end. She was one of us now. We who noticed the cosmic conflict between Suzumiya and Sasaki, and saw Suou clearly.

Suzumiya brought in a cake that she had baked herself. She placed her cake box on the table and saw that all of the chairs around the table had been taken. Her suspicious gaze settled on Sasaki. Then she went to the computer desk and rolled the office chair around to the end of the table, next to Nagato and Suou. She was effectively blocking the door, but this didn't seem to bother her.

Suzumiya took the lid off her cake box. The icing on the top of the cake had exactly the same pattern that she had exposed Nagato to on Tuesday. I heard gasps from the espers as I turned to look at Nagato.

Nagato looked down on the cake. "So this is your logo?"

"For the SOS Brigade."

"I'm sorry I didn't upload that for you. I'll do it this afternoon."

"No, I checked and Kyon already did it." Suzumiya looked down at the cake. "Strange, the cake doesn't seem to be exactly the same as the website version."

Sasaki gave me a disapproving look.

"It must be an issue with digital conversion." I took a quick headcount of the clubroom. Nobody had vanished or collapsed.

"Let me take a photo of this." Suzumiya pulled out her cell phone.

I picked up the plastic knife she had brought, and quickly sliced the cake into eight pieces.

"Kyon!" Suzumiya complained.

"Don't you want to take a picture with a piece in front of each person?" I tried to sound as innocent as possible. "We need to hurry if we're to finish up before lunch is over." I began to serve out the pieces before she could think of another objection.

As Asahina started serving tea, I put my right hand on the hilt of the invisible knife on my belt.

"You will convince Suzumiya to use my version of her image, before she draws it again." Asakura's voice sounded in my head, but none of the other students in the room seemed to notice.

After classes, Suzumiya had to drag Nagato away from her worshipers in the Computer Club for a meeting in our clubroom about objectives for the semester. Nothing was accomplished as each esper supported a different goddess, Nagato didn't want to assert herself, I didn't want to agree to doing more work myself, and Suou  
proved impossible to engage on any topic. The final tally was Suzumiya, Koizumi and Asahina for doing a movie, Sasaki and Tachibana for a Literature Club yearly, with Nagato, Suou, and myself undeclared.

After the inconclusive meeting, Suzumiya wanted to walk Nagato home, but Asakura showed up at exactly that point and said that she would, as they both lived in the same apartment building.

On the ride to her house, Sasaki leaned down closer to me from her perch on the back of my bicycle. "If I can get Nagato to agree, will I have your vote also, Kyon?"

"What's with this competition? Why don't you two go into a room by yourselves and settle this?"

"Fu fu fu fu. Suzumiya is not my girlfriend."

"I didn't accuse you of that, Sasaki."

"Oh. That's right, you didn't. I've known her since elementary school."

"So this is all related to some trauma back then?"

"I don't think so. We were never in the same class. She was so energetic back then. I doubt that she remembers me though. My family changed its name to Sasaki just before I started middle school, and as you know my personal name is rather common."

"Is this an invitation to start using your personal name?"

"I don't think that would be appropriate between fellow students. It might indicate that our relationship was something other than intended."

"So stop calling me Kyon."

"Sorry, Kyon. Your sister made me promise. I admit that Mr. Sasaki frightened me a bit at first, but I have no problem with calling him father now. I see no reason to dishonor his name. The incident did make me withdraw a bit until you pried me out of my shell. Something happened to Suzumiya between elementary and high  
school. She used to be so outgoing, and now she interacts with just a selected few. Whatever it is, I'm sure she has her reasons. I try not to take her slights personally. After all she treats me no worse than she treats most people."

That still doesn't make it right. I thought, as I stopped in front of Sasaki's house.

After dinner I received a phone call from another number I hadn't seen before. "Hello."

"Kyon! It is you. Um, could you come to my apartment now?"

"Sure, Nagato. Do you need anything?"

"No, I just need to talk about something."

"Okay, I'll see you soon."

I wondered what was troubling Nagato, that she couldn't talk about over the phone. It was a bit of a bother to go over to her place, but I didn't want to ask her to walk out alone in the evening, if she might suffer another seizure.

My little sister crept up behind me as I was putting on my outdoor shoes. "Kyon, take me along."

"Can't. A girl from my school wants to see me alone in her apartment."

"Liar! No girl would ever date you."

Nagato buzzed me into her building, met me at her apartment door, and then served me tea in her living room.

I looked around her apartment and saw that previously rather sterile living room had begun to collect random piles of books. I'd have to go get her some bookshelves at some point. I turned back to her and waited.

She blushed, so I looked down at the vapors from my teacup.

"Kyon."

"Yes?" I looked back up.

"Do you believe in aliens?" She spoke softly as she glanced up at my face, then quickly dropped her gaze back down to her tea.

I suppressed a sigh. "I don't believe that Earth is the only place in the universe that would have life. There are just too many stars even in our galaxy. Of course there are aliens."

"What would these aliens be like, and how would they contact us?" Nagato continued to study her table top.

"While most life forms should be much more primitive than mankind, the ones who do contact us should be much more advanced. Just from random chance they would be at least a billion years more advanced than mankind, and look at the advancements on Earth in just the last Century."

"So would they use giant radio telescopes to call us up?" She looked back up at me.

"How would they know we were here? Our radio broadcasts barely extend a hundred light years. Just as humanity has the Internet, any galaxy spanning civilization would require some sort of advanced communication network."

Nagato nodded. "I knew you were the right person to talk to this about. Since my attack, my second attack, the one that happened in the clubroom yesterday, I've heard this voice inside my head."

"What makes you think it's an alien?"

"I asked it for proof and it gave me your phone number. Only, it's not like talking. It's more like a network connection to a database."

I put my hand on the hilt of the invisible knife.

"Yuki's faction is widely considered to be the nerds of the galaxy." Asakura's voice sounded amused then switched to a warning tone. "You may continue human, but be careful of her condition."

"Nagato, you read a lot of science fiction books?"

She looked around at the piles of books and blushed. "Sorry."

"Let's go this weekend and get you a bookcase at a yard sale. But I have a way that you can safely talk to me about your experience over the phone or in the clubroom."

"Yes?" Her eyes widened.

"For your Literature Club project, write the story of a high school girl who is contacted by aliens."

"What?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Then anybody else who hears it, will think that you are being creative, not crazy."

"Th - that's a good idea, Kyon."

"Here, let's setup text messaging between our phones so you can chat with me at any time about this." I reached for the knife, then remembered that I had switched my cellphone to the other side and took that out instead.

At the clubroom meeting after classes on Thursday, Nagato outlined the story she would be writing.

"And so what happens to her?" Suzumiya asked.

"She is contacted by aliens." Nagato replied.

"And then what? Where's the conflict? Okay for my movie, Koizumi will be an ordinary boy who is contacted by alien Tachibana, Mikuru is an esper from a secret organization who is trying to capture Tachibana, and Yuki is a time traveler trying to make things right." Suzumiya pointed at each of them in turn.

"But, my story is about a girl who is contacted by aliens." Nagato half raised her hand and then dropped it again.

"Sorry, Yuki. The dramatic meme works better when it is a boy who is seduced by aliens. Boys are just less cautious in romantic matters, so it makes it more believable." Suzumiya wagged her finger at her.

"So who is the villain in this story, Asahina, Tachibana, or perhaps Nagato?" Sasaki asked.

"I won't say." Suzumiya turned to her.

"You don't trust us?" Sasaki actually looked hurt at the suggestion.

"My movie won't say."

"Oh, to give the audience a chance to make up their own minds?"

"No, I'm leaving it to the sequel. The audience will have to return next year to find out if Mikuru is out to capture Tachibana in order to save the Earth, or if she is just telling herself that to cover for her jealously. So keep that in mind while you are writing the novelization, Sasaki."

Sasaki nodded at this, then turned to the rest of us. "Very well, Kyon, Tachibana, and Nagato. Will you help me with the novelization?"

Suzumiya saw our nods, then walked over to the computer desk and pulled out a red paper band out of the drawer that she then pined to her sleeve. It had "Super Director" written on it.


	6. Chapter 6

On the Thursday afternoon bike ride home, I asked Sasaki why she had given in to Suzumiya about the movie.

"Kyon, you make it sound like we're bitter rivals. While I don't know her feelings, I still admire her. I remember feeling left out, when she'd lead her elementary class on some sort of interesting activity. Well, now I finally am in the same room. So club or brigade, it doesn't matter. We've found a way to all be on the same page and leave nobody out."

"Except Suou." I kept my eyes on the road ahead of me.

"Just let her come along at her own pace. I'm sure she'll surprise as all some day. I'm amazed that Nagato would push her own idea out there like that. I think I smell some of your handiwork in that?" Sasaki leaned down towards me.

"You have a keen nose. Nagato just wanted to bounce the concept off me first. She's a big science fiction fan, as you can see from what she reads. Her apartment is starting to get big stacks of books, so remind me at the meeting tomorrow, to say that we need to help her carry up some bookcases."

"So how many times have you been inside Nagato's apartment?" Sasaki leaned back and slightly tightened her hands on my shoulders.

"Just twice. Is she your rival for something?"

"Fu fu fu fu. Of course not. I'm just concerned for two friends of mine, that's all."

That evening Nagato texted me to complain about Suzumiya's hijacking of her story.

"Perhaps she's doing you a favor?"

There was a noticeable delay, then Nagato texted back. "What?"

"Using a boy moves it even further away."

"But the other things she's adding."

"Let her, but write your own story."

"Isn't the book going to be about her story?"

"With one chapter for the short story the movie is based on."

"Can we do it?"

"It's not a lie, is it?"

"I guess?"

"So write down your notes so far, and bring them to the clubroom tomorrow, so we can get started on that part."

"Thanks."

"Anytime."

At lunch on Friday, a girl with long flowing dark green hair came to the door of our classroom. "Which one of you is Kyon?"

I put my empty bento away and excused myself from Sasaki and Kunikida. "Can I help you, Miss?"

"Tsuruya." She grabbed my arm and dragged me to the windows away from the classrooms, then she released me to look me over.

I felt like a fish swimming down a stream under the hungry eye of a stork. "Is there some problem?"

"You tell me. My friend Mikuru-chan's been real depressed ever since she joined your club."

"Oh, that."

"Yeah, what is it?" Tsuruya stared in my face.

With all the problems with Nagato, not to mention the squabbling goddesses, I had overlooked whatever that problem Asahina said she had with time travel. What exactly was I getting dragged into? "Look, if you're such a good friend of hers, why don't you ask her yourself?"

She crossed her arms and turned to face the window. "I've tried. She just clams up and shakes her head." Then she looked back and wagged her finger at me. "If you've gotten her in trouble, then I sure hope for your sake that you're ready to take responsibility for it."

"I don't think our friend would appreciate having people say such things so loudly. And no, from what little I understand, that is not her problem."

Tsuruya looked almost ready to strike me, but then the bell sounded, announcing the imminent start of classes. "Don't think you've gotten out of this bunko. I'll be keeping my eye on you."

I hurried back to the classroom. Sasaki had questions, but no time to ask them, as the teacher had arrived.

At the meeting that afternoon, Suzumiya said that we'd meet at the cafe on Saturday to take up the location finding for her movie. I explained that I had to go to Nagato's to help her move in some bookshelves. Suzumiya exploded at this, but finally made it a brigade mission, to get it out of the way.

That next morning we met at Nagato's apartment and Suzumiya had exactly the response I had expected. She loved the empty space in Nagato's apartment and wanted Nagato to buy some furniture so she could use the place for her interior shots.

Koizumi mysteriously not only had a friend with a truck available, but also knew of some places that were trying to get rid of excess furniture.

The next weekend was at the start of June and Suzumiya executed her plans to get a video camera and props. By this point Sasaki had become the go-between who dealt with Nagato on the writing side, and Suzumiya on the movie issues. At lunch I was now the one to turn my chair around while Sasaki pulled her chair over to Suzumiya's desk. The two goddesses would talk while I ate in silence.

Sasaki rarely came riding home with me and would instead leave with Suzumiya. On those days when they both left immediately after school, I'd take the time in the clubroom to work on my homework. Both Nagato and Asahina offered to help me with this, but their explanations left me more confused than enlightened, as they came at the problems from their own perspectives. Nagato wanted to use some of the items Asahina mentioned as examples of what a far future society would be like for her story, but Asahina talked her out of this. The espers only showed up when the goddesses did, and Suou just sat there in the clubroom.

That week I met with Asahina and asked her about her time travel problems, but she could only provide small details. She didn't know much herself and had expected to rely on a future she could no longer contact.

The weekend after that we were out filming when Suzumiya shouted cut.

I turned off the video camera and put it to the side to rest my arm.

"You can't just give Koizumi a peck on the cheek, Tachibana!" Suzumiya walked up to them.

"What?" Tachibana backed away from Koizumi.

Suzumiya grabbed Sasaki, who had put down the reflector board, wrapped her arms around her neck, bent her over backwards, and kissed her. I could even see Suzumiya's tongue move against the inside of Sasaki's cheek.

After a full minute, Suzumiya broke off the kiss and turned back to the pair of espers. She kept an arm around Sasaki's waist as Sasaki leaned against her. "Now, that's the way you do a kiss."

"I can't do that on camera!" Tachibana blushed and glanced at Koizumi.

"Sure, you can." Suzumiya reluctantly let go of her girlfriend to give Tachibana a pat on the back.

"The whole school will see it!"

"Do you want to be a famous actress or not?" Suzumiya grabbed Tachibana's hands.

Something about that scene prodded me into action. I thought about it all day at school on Monday, but couldn't see how to pull it off.

There was only one person I could ask about all of this, and it was somebody I had to keep out of the loop. That afternoon on one of the rare rides to her house, I figured out a way to ask the question, without spilling the beans. "Sasaki, I've got this idea for Nagato's story, but I don't have it all figured out, so I thought I'd ask you about it first. If you don't mind?"

"No, go right ahead."

"Her time traveling character gets stuck in the past and has to deal with another time traveler who is jumping around and making things difficult for her. The only problem is that the enemy time traveler never reveals his face. So how do you defeat somebody who is watching from a future perspective and keeping to the shadows?"

"That's a tough one. Presumably the person in the future will have access to the full historical record, and so will be able to adjust for anything people in the past have done."

I pedaled in silence for a minute as I thought about what she had said. "Thanks. That's it."

"Yeah, yeah?"

"Let me think about it for a bit longer, but I think I see how to do it now." I stopped in front of her house and watched her walk up to her door.

Sasaki suddenly spun around to wag her finger at me. Then she smiled and walked into her house.

As I pedaled off I considered how much happier she had seemed lately. And Suzumiya also. They were surely the oddest couple I had ever seen. They seemed to agree on absolutely nothing, and yet they brilliantly coordinated with each other, while each retaining her own unique perspective.

When I got home, I went to my desk, turned on the radio as loudly as I was allowed, and took out my homework. As I pretended to read my math textbook, I let my hand drop down to the hilt of the invisible knife on my belt.

"Let's run away together." I whispered.

"Is this what you humans call madness?" Asakura's voice sounded in my head.

"A mere human has been messing with Yuki. Will you help me catch them or not?"

"Very well, who is it?"

"I do not know. I doubt they've even been born yet." I outlined my plan to Asakura and finally got her agreement. She even agreed that my two victims were in her opinion expendable, and that she would bring me the elements needed for my mad scheme.

The next day I left the goddess to have their lunch together, and took a trip outside the classroom to drop notes off in the shoe lockers of my two targets that read: "Suzumiya and Sasaki seem to have chosen each other. If you've got any ideas for how I can break them apart and get in there myself, then please meet me at the top of the stairway after school today. -Kyon"

I excused myself early from the clubroom, but the two goddesses were so busy haggling about story ideas that they didn't notice. I honestly didn't know how far they had gone at that point. Sure, there was the occasional kiss, and they did seem to have their hands all over each other a lot of the time, but whatever they did away from the school and the rest of us was a private matter, that I didn't care to ask the espers about.

Taniguchi and Kunikida were surprised to find that I'd called them both up, but they were willing to listen to my woes about the lesbian couple. We sat down next to the locked door at the top of the stairway and after a half hour of their pleading the cases for their factions, I offered them tea from my thermos. Within a few minutes they nodded off. I turned off their cell phones and tied them both up.

I waited for the school to turn dark and silent, then finally I drew the combat knife and sliced through the roof lock with one swipe. A most impressive weapon, but it would have only one chance.

I tied the ropes firmly then gently lowered the two agents over the side of the roof. A single glance assured me that the drop would be fatal.

I sat back and waited for a few hours. Then I stood and put my hands loosely at my sides. "I guess they're not going to show. Ah well, I'll hit the road and vanish from the history books now."

"What do you think you are doing?" A unfamiliar boy asked from behind me.

I turned around to face him, and carefully crossed my arms to leave my side free. "Are you the one who has disrupted Yuki?"

"So what if I have? What is your excuse for doing this? Don't you realize the dangers if the authorities are forced to take you away? You can't just leave things like this."

"I'm not the one who messed things up. You are."

I was pushed to the side by a sudden gust of wind. It felt like a bullet train, but it was only one girl shaped object. She grabbed the knife from the sheath on my belt and plunged it into the stranger's left eye before he could react.

He shuddered and died.

I stood and brushed myself off. "Why didn't you go at me that fast the first time, Asakura?"

"I have learned my lesson about you humans. I will not hesitate from now on." She pulled her knife from the skull of the corpse.

"So he was a time traveler?" I looked down at the body. He didn't seem all that impressive, but his face seemed to remind me of somebody. I just couldn't put my finger on whom.

"The TPDD is built into their brains. That needs to be shut down in order to stop them."

"Give me a hand with the two stooges." I turned to the ropes.

"Save them yourself." Asakura plucked her sheath from my belt and returned her strangely clean knife to it. Then she picked up the body and vanished. She didn't even leave a bloodstain behind.

I pulled the two boys up, untied them and slapped them awake.

"What?" Kunikida seemed totally bewildered.

"What the hell did you do, Kyon?" Taniguchi clinched his fists as he stood.

I crossed my arms. "I just did something for Asakura. You know what she is, so do you want to trouble her any further about this?"

Nobody did raise a stink about it, and that weekend Asahina called my cellphone at home to tell me to meet her at the park near Nagato's.

When I met her, she explained that her connection with the future had been restored. The timelines were still tangled up and she'd need my help in the next few days to make some trips to the past.

"Won't that negate all of this?"

"No. You've established some new fixed points, but there are some paradoxes in the past that need to be seen to, or classified information will happen."

Nagato's faction agreed to keep her human, in an attempt to better communicate with Suou, or so they said. I think it was just that they were soft on her.

Whenever Asakura saw Nagato, she would give her a look that was a strange cross between contempt and longing. I didn't dare mention this to her, because she had her knife back.

I struggled with my grades for a bit, but then Yuki found a more human perspective and managed to coach me into passing grades. She even settled for the crummy college that finally accepted me, and let me move into the one bedroom apartment she rented nearby. It wasn't a surprise to anybody when we got married right after graduation.

I'm proud of my son, though I admit that he's a bit odd. It wasn't much of a surprise to me when Yuki finally admitted that he had inherited a connection like hers.

A much bigger surprise was in store when Suzumiya and Sasaki came by to see our infant child and Suzumiya was inspired to become a mother herself. She even talked Sasaki into it.

"The only way I can be sure in my heart that I'm not cheating on you, is if you are there and a part of it!" Suzumiya grabbed Sasaki's hands. "Don't you want to be a part of my child's life from the very start? And can't I be a part of your child's life from the very start also?"

"You can't be serious." But I saw by the expression on Suzumiya's face that she was. I turned to my wife, "Yuki?"

"It's okay." She dropped her gaze down to our baby.

She later told me that her alien masters had ordered her to agree, but she waited until after she had been excluded from our bedroom for a week so that Suzumiya could have her way with me and Sasaki. I wasn't at all surprised that their cycles were coordinated, but apparently Suzumiya's womb was a little less stable place to rest in, so she had her daughter a week before Sasaki had hers.

So now I have 'twin' daughters with birthdays a week apart from each other. That's certainly started a few conversations. Yes, the daughters live with us. It took Suzumiya barely six months after her daughter was born to conclude that motherhood was boring. So she dropped the baby girls off to Yuki and my care and went out with Sasaki on their great adventures.

The two would show up each year for the birthdays, until that great storm hit their flight coming back home one year. I like to think that the two of them washed up on some tiny tropical island and are still having the times of their lives, but Yuki informed me after the plane went down that the daughters had inherited the offices of their mothers.

I noticed a bit of a change in the girls at the time, but they had each always taken after their mothers. At least they get along with each other, while also never agreeing on anything. My boy is wise beyond his years in the way he makes sure he doesn't agree with one of them too much over the other. I try to follow his example.

So my three children (from three different mothers) are going to school now and having their own adventures (along with Itsuki's and Kyouko's kid), but I'll leave it to them to write their own stories.

-HJC


End file.
